


Our Caim

by AsexualDerek (Cammerel)



Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Alpha Derek, Alpha Form, Anal Play, As in he's a MAGE, BAMF Stiles, Bestiality, Blood, Character Death, Claws, Come Eating, Crying, Decapitation, Fish Gutting, Future Fic, Humiliation, Knotting, Licking, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Oral Sex, Psychic Stiles Stilinski, Rape, Rimming, Scar Licking, Scars, Scenting, Sick Stiles, Sobbing, These tags will be extended to over time, Top!Derek, Violence, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2017-12-08 05:01:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cammerel/pseuds/AsexualDerek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were the only ones that had really managed to stay honest and truthful to one another at the turn of the war. When humans found out about werewolves, and Stiles took his side by Derek, he’d faced down people he’d known for years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Season: 9 (Interpretation, based on the direction and outcome of other shows).

Stiles was in the middle of dreaming about the greasiest, cheesiest big mac ever to grace this side of the United States when he tilted his head at it and the thing growled at him, “What..?” He reached out to touch it, feel the dark fur on the seeded bun and the growling increased, “Burger, stop growling.”

To his surprise and astonishment, it actually did, and he grinned as he grabbed it firm and pulled it closer to his mouth, stopping when it whined and licked his face.

Stiles blinked and spluttered, opening his eyes and looking through the darkness of his dead silent bedroom. Sight came to him slowly and he saw the shape before him - his hand on the werewolf’s black furred muzzle and he frowned, “Derek? What are you doing, man?”

Derek whined and pointed his snout towards the window, eyes a little wide as he waited for Stiles to get up and look. Even from clear across the village, he could smell the bloodshed and the smoke, hear the screams like sirens going off in his ears - they were under attack, no doubt. The alpha moved in an anxious circle before sitting on his haunches, waiting for the younger man's reaction.

Stiles stood, scratching the top of the alpha’s head and moving to the window. There was a time, a long while ago, where he would’ve still been confused, or questioned Derek continuously, but that time had long since passed. He knew the guy better than he knew himself now, and there was no reason Derek would wake him up in the middle of the night that would end well for anyone.

He looked out and didn’t really see much besides for the fact that it looked like fireworks were going off on the other side of the village. His stomach twisted though, because fireworks wasn’t really **any** sign that things were normal.

Stiles turned to Derek, his eyes wide as he moved to grab up his worn jeans, pulling them on and strapping his gun to his side, “Are you okay?” He asked, glancing at the large, hulking werewolf in his room, “What do you hear? Is it bad?”

Derek ignored Stiles’s first question and answered the last by nodding, big furry brows furrowed in concern. The alpha moved towards the door and whimpered as if to say ' _Come on, Stiles, let's just go - we don't have to fight_ '. He knew that Stiles understood him, the younger man often did, even when he didn't expect him to. Stiles was riddled with scars because he didn't know how to back down, and Derek wasn't exactly looking to add to the smaller man's collection any time soon.

“Are you kidding me?” Stiles asked as he pulled his boots on and grabbed his jacket and his rifle, “There are women and children out there, and you think I can just leave them to the mercy of hunters?” He shook his head, grabbing his weathered spell book and moving to the door, “You can go, man, but you know better than I do that I’m not leaving them out there.”

He walked passed, pushing the door open with one hand as his book fell open and he started across the street, shield in place.

Derek growled his annoyance but followed anyways. Stiles was good with his spells, but he got a bit reckless from time to time; and Derek could sleep better knowing that his friend was okay, just being there in general to have his back.

Stiles could guilt trip him all he wanted about the lives of innocents, but he'd lost enough people, if it meant putting people at risk that he didn't know in order to keep Stiles safe, then he'd do it - that's where they differed the most - Stiles cared too much and he cared too little.

Stiles smiled as he heard the werewolf’s footsteps behind him, waiting up and extending his shield to Derek as they moved. It was a long walk, but they made it as stealthily as possible, taking alleyways until they reached the action. Stiles didn’t let his presence be known at once, utilizing the opportune moment to peg a few hunters in the backs of the heads to take them out without the rest of them knowing.

He moved out finally when they noticed him, dropping his shield and turning the page of the book, reading over the spell and drawing the symbol one handed in the air. He ducked as an arrow passed just overhead, and sent the curse to the man, watching him fall, writhing in agony to the ground.

He took down a good few that way, but he was stretching his limits, blood dripping from his nose and he wiped it away, closed the book and pulled one of his emergency seals from the back of his hand, slapping it on the wall of the closest building and the fog started rolling in.

Stiles felt the shot before he heard it, whizzing right over his cheek and he fell back, wincing and returning fire at the enraged hunter.

Derek absolutely hated long range combat, mainly because it made him feel useless, having to rely on Stiles when he knew that he was more than capable of helping - and it didn’t make matters any better when his best friend got hurt when he could’ve done something.

The alpha could smell Stiles’s blood before he’d seen it, little dribbles of it streaking down his cheek and nose. He moved at once when he noticed one of the hunters drawing their rifle towards Stiles and shielded him, all but howling when the bullet caught him in the shoulder. It hurt, but he’d rather be the one getting shot instead of Stiles - he couldn’t risk losing the only person he had left.

Derek barely turned to look down at Stiles as the white-hot pain caused him to whine. Just then two more bullets were pumped into his body, one into his thigh and the other one went clear through his ear. The alpha yipped painfully and turned to nudge Stiles in the other direction, eyes bright red as he pleaded with the smaller man.

Stiles gasped, the sound Derek made causing his stomach to twist sickly and he put the shield up again, blocking the rest of the bullets. He pushed it out as far as he could, knocking the hunters back off their feet and his head swam once he’d done it.

He clutched the book in his hand, lifting his gun to shoot as blood poured continuously down his nose from the strain. Dots spread across his vision and he turned into Derek’s mane, “What... Wha’do we do?”

 _We run_ , was the alpha’s only thought. Stiles was over exerting himself and if he didn’t stop and pull back, he’d end up killing himself - and Derek couldn’t have that, so he slung the smaller man onto his back and took off in the opposite direction.

Stiles would probably be pissed at him for not staying and defending their home - but he’d get over it, and eventually see that Derek did it to save him. He ran as fast as he could, limping and whimpering all the way back to their room to grab their emergency bags, which held everything that they’d need in a situation such as this; provisions, clothes for Stiles, first aid - stuff to last them until they found somewhere safe to settle down.

After grabbing the bags, he exited the building and made a beeline for the forest, probably one of the last places a hunter would think to look - especially since the world knew about the supernatural, it wasn’t like werewolves had a reason to hide in the woods any longer.

The alpha stopped and looked back for a second, long enough to wince at the screams and see a huge portion of the village go up in flames.

Stiles was half delirious, clutching onto Derek’s fur as he was pulled along. He wiped his nose on the sleeve of his jacket and turned into the soft black fluff of the alpha’s back, “You got shot,” He muttered, still feeling the sting in his cheek as the werewolf moved.

The screams became a distant sound, fading out eventually until there was nothing but the trees and forest rushing passed, leaves whipping by and he started to shake his head, “Wait, what are you doing? We can’t just leave them there, they’ll be defenseless.”

Derek dismissed Stiles’s concern for him almost instantly, but growled regarding the village as if to say ‘ _We were outnumbered and I’m not gonna let you get yourself killed_ ’. If Stiles fought him on the matter and tried to go back, he’d drag the smaller man against his will.

The alpha ran until he could hardly move, whimpering from the unbearable pain coursing throughout his body. Derek sat Stiles down next to a tree stump and whined as he licked the nick across his friend’s cheek, wishing he could tell Stiles how much of a dumb ass he was for not backing out sooner.

“Stop, I’m fine,” Stiles winced and pushed Derek’s muzzle away, slowing at least to scratch the fur and he reached out to the packs, fishing around through his as he spread his legs and patted the ground, “Come here, let me get those out for you.”

He grabbed the first-aid kit and popped it open, snatching up the small bag of wolfsbane he’d kept for such an occasion and waited for the poor werewolf to sit.

Derek growled but moved to sit between Stiles’s legs anyway, fighting the urge to howl out in agony. He was just glad that he’d gotten Stiles away from the mayhem before he’d actually gotten hurt, it was hard to even fathom what he’d do without the younger man.

The alpha licked his canines and tried not to think about the incessant burning of the bullets embedded inside of him, but rather on the man sitting before him, wondering if **he** felt okay.

“Oh shut your little sourwolf ass up, or I’ll knock you out,” Stiles said, rolling his eyes and reaching up to scratch behind Derek’s unwounded ear, the other one already starting it’s healing. It was going to hurt even more before it was over, he had to give the guy some kind of comfort before the wailing started. He poured the wolfsbane into his palm and pressed it to the alpha’s shoulder, wincing with him and pushing his thumb in, digging the cure deeper inside of it.

The werewolf didn’t bother leaning into the touch, because he knew Stiles was buttering him up for the pain he was about to inflict. Derek felt the herbs being worked under his skin and if he’d thought the bullets were bad, he’d been mistaken - wolfsbane was the worst of the worst, hands down. The alpha’s eyes flashed red and he howled, loud enough to hurt his own ears.

Stiles squeezed his eyes closed and grabbed Derek’s mouth to shut it, “Will you be quiet? I know it hurts, but seriously, dude, _I’ve got ears_.”

He turned into the muzzle and sighed, “I’m sorry, big guy, but the next one’s gonna suck.” Thigh, yeah, all tender and sensitive. He got it over as fast as possible, finally sitting back against the stump and wiping the blood from his hands onto his jeans before reaching out to calm the werewolf down again.

Derek wanted to get up and move away, put distance between them just to be defiant - but he was so fucking sore it even hurt to breathe. He allowed himself to indulge in Stiles’s touch before collapsing on the younger man's lap, laying his head on his friend’s thigh as he whimpered quietly, clenching his eyes shut.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles whispered, scratching the werewolf in his happy spots, just to give his hands something to do beyond easing his friend’s pain. It was the least he could do. Derek had saved his life. More than once, at this point - more times than he could count.

They were the only ones that had really managed to stay honest and truthful to one another at the turn of the war. When humans found out about werewolves, and Stiles took his side by Derek, he’d faced down people he’d known for years, grown up with. And they were the only ones left for one another - which was Stiles’s fault as well. He’d blame the deaths of their loved ones on himself for the rest of his life.

Always having to stay back and save one more life, always putting other people at risk. That was how they lost Jackson, and Lydia, and Erica, and the rest of the pack - and his dad.

Derek hadn’t changed back since then, not even to speak. Stiles understood, he’d do it himself - if he could - just to not have people expect him to say things and explain things, but Derek had been adamant about keeping him human.

The village was gone, one of the largest remaining colonies of werewolf families, and the only place left, that Stiles knew of, was in Salem, and they were both without means of a vehicle, or contact in general. Within two days time, Scott would know, and likely think they were either dead or taken prisoner.

Stiles hadn’t called a place home since Beacon Hills, so there wasn’t much loss to be had in his heart, but it wasn’t an easy blow, “Where are we, buddy?” He asked, voice soft and weak as he looked around, “Where the Hell are we going?”

Derek lifted his face to look at Stiles, wishing more than anything that he could just let his guard down and shift back - but he was stronger this way, and while he was in his alpha form he didn’t have to talk. Talking would involve acknowledging aches and hurts that he’d long since forgotten, or pushed away, rather - and the last thing Stiles needed was a vulnerable, weeping mess of Derek to deal with. He wasn’t sure where they were going, but he knew he wouldn’t stop until his friend was completely out of harms way.

Stiles sighed and blinked at his watch, it was three AM, which meant he’d only been sleeping for a few hours, which was pretty much how he felt. He searched the darkness and swallowed, grabbing up his spell book and stuffing it in his pack with the first aid, “Did you wanna stay here ‘til light, or did you wanna keep going?”

Derek laid his head down on the ground and rolled onto his uninjured side as a response, knowing he wouldn’t make it very far at the moment. Come daylight, he’d at least be healed enough to get them a little further.

“Yeah, I figured,” Stiles shook his head and dropped it back against the tree stump, staring up and breathing, “I’m not doing so good either, pretty sure I’m seeing triple.” He blinked a few times, shifting to get comfortable in some way and shivering as a cold gust of wind hit him in the face, but he ignored it otherwise.

The alpha winced but sat up a little to look Stiles in the eyes, trying to convey everything he was thinking about how reckless it was to push his powers the way he had.

He blinked slowly and leaned forward to lick at the wound on the younger man’s cheek, paw moving to curl around Stiles’s waist to pull him down with him, maneuvering his friend so that his chest was pressed against the smaller man’s back.

Derek huffed and laid his muzzle against Stiles’s neck as he curled himself around the younger man’s frame in an effort to keep him warm.

Stiles leaned into the alpha’s body, the fucking seriously thick, almost suffocatingly soft fur enveloping him and he grinned as Derek’s wet nose brushed his skin, “Thanks,” He whispered, one hand scratching the werewolf’s muzzle, working it’s way up between Derek’s brows, the other covering the large claws around his waist.

“And I know I shouldn’t push them, Deaton said specifically not to. People were dying, still are, and you...” He remembered the shield he’d pushed out at the end, probably the largest spell he’d done yet, “I can’t lose you, big guy, you’re all I got left.”

Derek whined again and pressed the wetness of his nose just beneath Stiles’s ear, pulling his friend closer. _You’re not gonna lose me, wish you wouldn’t think like that._

It was understandable though, they’d both lost everyone else they’d ever cared about - it was probably only a matter of time before they were torn from one another. He’d fight though, do everything in his power to keep them both safe.

“How else am I suppose to think, after everything?” Stiles breathed in deep and turned onto his back to look Derek in the eyes, “And you need to stop treating me like I can’t take care of things on my own. I know I get reckless, and a bit rash sometimes, but I’m capable. You’re not the only one here, capable of protecting.” He swallowed, “I’ve saved you too, just as much, and you know it.”

 _I never said you weren’t capable, I know you’ve saved me and I’m thankful - but I wish you’d realize that you’re still technically human. If you get hurt, I may not be able to **save you**._ Derek groaned and stared back at Stiles, willing the younger man to drop the issue, he couldn’t handle the pain and a scolding all in one night.

Stiles smiled weakly and turned his body completely towards Derek, pulling the large werewolf into his own arms and resting his lips against the alpha’s cheek, “I don’t mean to argue you on it, I know I can... I’m well aware I can get hurt. I’m sorry, you’re right. I’m upset that you took me, but I’m not upset at you for doing it. I understand why you did.”

Derek didn’t want to lose him, and the alpha was ready and willing to be selfish, because if he lost Stiles, then he lost everything. The fucking guy wouldn’t even turn into a human as it was, he’d go off the deep end completely if he lost Stiles, “It’s the same for me, if I could wolf out right now and run for the rest of my life I probably would. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

It was astonishing sometimes how well Stiles could understand what he was thinking, and it definitely made the whole wolf thing a lot easier, having someone understand him even if he couldn’t speak. The alpha rubbed his muzzle against Stiles’s shoulder before pulling back to lick up the side of his face, thanking him.

“Any time,” Stiles responded, smiling and curling in close then, staying turned inward as he reached up around Derek’s mane, scratching up from his withers to his crest, under his ear and back down as they breathed and he started to drift off, listening to the strong beats of Derek’s heart.

Derek closed his eyes but didn’t go to sleep, he probably wouldn’t, at least not until they were both safe. Instead, he focused on the feeling of Stiles scratching through his fur and the slow, constant breaths billowing out from between his friend’s lips, ears perking up every once in a while when he’d hear leaves crunch.

He spent the better part of the night like that, constantly staying alert in case they were followed - and at the first sign of daylight breaking through the tree tops, he pressed his nose to Stiles’s sleepy face to wake him up.

Stiles turned and pushed Derek’s muzzle away from his face, smacking his lips together and stretching before he curled back in and squeezed closer to the werewolf. His hands tightened in the alpha’s fur as Stiles breathed him in and smiled to himself, “Five more minutes,” He muttered, “Go to work, the alarm’ll wake me up.”

The alpha rolled his eyes at Stiles and nudged at the younger man’s uninjured cheek even harder, tongue laving out against the salted flesh in order to irritate him. He’d never really met anyone in his life who sleep-talked as much as Stiles did, and after hearing almost full paragraphs spill out of his friend’s mouth unconsciously, he was convinced that it was a talent or something - even if half of what he mumbled made no sense what so ever.

Stiles turned his face even further into Derek’s fur, “Stop, okay?”

He opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness still, the soft fur tickling his face and he sat up, “Ah, shit.” He narrowed his brows and yawned, throwing his arms up as he stretched and turned to the werewolf, reaching out to scratch his nose and press his lips to the top of the alpha’s head, “Tell me you got some sleep, big guy. You really didn’t stay up all night, did you?”

Derek looked at Stiles without blinking, wincing as he forced himself up onto his feet. _Of course I stayed up all night_. The pain was nowhere near as horrible as it’d been the night before, nothing but a dull, uncomfortable ache at this point - he’d be able to get them further away without much effort.

“Stubborn-wolf,” Stiles chided and stood, rolling his shoulders to pop the bones. He reached out then, turning Derek to him to look at the wounds, and then his ear, “Not too bad, you should be fine by tomorrow, lucky duck.” He scratched idly at his cheek before moving to their bags, picking up his own and handing Derek’s over, "I gotta hand it to you, for escaping the village, and thinking on your feet, thank god you grabbed these. I only just finished packing them a week ago.”

The alpha took his bag and turned to survey the area, listening for anyone else as he snorted at Stiles over his shoulder. _Took you long enough_. Stiles would probably still be procrastinating it if Derek wouldn’t have literally sat the bags down in front of him with a pointed look. He moved then and nudged the younger man in the side, trying to tell him that they needed to get moving.

Stiles sighed and picked up his rifle, checking his gun in its holster, and the knife just below before he started off. He knew the war with the hunters had been getting close to home base for a while now, but he hadn’t actually expected it to be **that** close. He should’ve been out there when it’d started, he was always so careful these days, about being on watch...

Which reminded him. Their watch hadn’t sounded the alarm, they’d probably been pegged before everything even started, either that... Or there’d been spies on the inside.

“So... Salem?”

Derek moved with Stiles, walking side by side as he looked at his friend, nodding in response.

It was the only known sanctuary left for their kind, and in regards to protection, Salem would probably put their old village to shame - or at least he hoped, they needed some sense of safety.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were the only ones that had really managed to stay honest and truthful to one another at the turn of the war. When humans found out about werewolves, and Stiles took his side by Derek, he’d faced down people he’d known for years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season: 9 (Interpretation, based on the direction and outcome of other shows).

Stiles stopped before the stream and put his pack down, rummaging through it, to the bottom, and pulling out the change of clothes he’d packed, “Could try to catch some fish first?” He suggested, raising his brows, “I don’t think I could without some kind of stick or something, but you could try. It’d help wash off all the blood.”

He walked out to a gathering of brush and set his gun against the nearest tree, “I’m just gonna wash off first, I feel disgusting,” He said as he took off his holster and started undressing.

The werewolf watched Stiles for a moment until a pale flash of skin startled him back into reality, and then he turned away and walked out into the stream, back turned towards Stiles as he watched for fish.

Stiles folded his clothes on the bank and tentatively stepped into the water, shivering and wincing as he moved in until he was covered up to the waist. He started from the top, washing his hair and cleaning the dried blood from under his nose, hands running down the scars on his arms.

A thick one on his left forearm, which he normally tried not to look at, was caused from a blade initially aimed at his dad - the same one that ended up killing him anyways. The three long slashes on his shoulder were from a werewolf they’d fought off when they left Beacon Hills, the slice from an arrow across his hip - thanks to Allison - was one of many that he wore with pride. Most of his scars were from protecting Derek, and that one wasn’t any different.

He knew he had plenty on his back, but he never saw them - and he didn’t bother trying - and he was more than aware of the one just before his tail bone, a bullet that probably would’ve killed Derek if it’d hit the alpha.

Turns out wolfsbane bullets do about as much damage to humans as they do to werewolves. Wolfsbane is poisonous, and could've been fatal, had he not been seen to nearly at once. And from the bullet itself, he’d only almost just been paralyzed because of the placing of it, and Derek had had to carry him out of the fight.

* * *

A glimmer of scales just beneath the water caught Derek's attention and he swiped down with his claws, catching the first one. He wanted to keep an eye on his friend, mainly just to make sure he was safe, but he didn’t want to seem like a pervert or something, so he stayed focused on the fish, grabbing one after another.

When Derek couldn’t hold any more fish in his arms, he moved from the stream and sat them all down by their stuff, lifting his head just minutely to look passed the trees at Stiles.

He frowned as he watched Stiles bathe, looking over his body and noticing the shiny white scars covering him from head to toe - each one had a story, some more tragic than others. And even though the younger man was damaged, both literally and figuratively - he was positive he’d never seen anyone more beautiful.

The alpha groaned at the thought and leaned against the tree, being around Stiles after so many years was starting to wear on him a little, making him softer around the edges.

“I didn’t peg you for being a peeping tom,” Stiles chided and glanced back to raise his brows at the werewolf, “Guess you learn something new everyday.”

He turned away and smiled to himself, washing his legs under the water and chuckling as he felt a fish swim by his left knee. One thing that practicing magic had done was help him sense people’s auras, and he **always** knew when Derek was looking at him. No one had a more intense gaze than that guy, not for Stiles, at least.

He could practically feel the throngs between them pulling insistently, though there never seemed to be a right moment, but he knew it was there - even a blind person could see it. Derek had to know as well, and his hesitancy could mean one of very, very many things.

The alpha huffed and turned away to press his back against the tree. If he’d been in his human form, he probably would’ve blushed. _Thank God for my fur._ It wasn’t like he watched Stiles with a purpose - aside from keeping him safe - it was just that most of the time he found himself staring shamelessly, undeniably drawn to his friend.

Stiles moved from the water and dressed in the new pair of clothes. He’d dampen them a bit, but they’d dry in time. He rolled up the old ones and moved back to their packs, setting the clothes down and raising his brows at the fish, “Nice, I’m impressed.”

He grabbed his spell book and leafed through it, setting a rock nearby on the page before he moved about, gathering wood and returning to set up the fire.

Once the makeshift spit was made, he pulled out his knife and started cutting through the fish, “Now, do you want yours raw, or do you want me to actually cook the thing?”

One of the perks of being in his wolf form was that it often didn’t matter if his food was cooked or not, so the alpha shrugged as a response before reaching out to grab one, biting into it almost messily as he stared at Stiles.

Derek swallowed the mouthful and licked his teeth, baring them in what probably looked like a pathetic attempt at a smile.

Stiles laughed and nodded, “Okay, yeah, that’s gross.”

He finished scraping away the scales of the first fish, moving to the next and grinning at Derek as the werewolf ate, “I wouldn’t mind stomaching that shit, but uh... I don’t think it’d settle well for a lot of reasons. I’m gonna have to bathe again, aren’t I?” He wiggled his nose and rolled his eyes, making his way through each fish before rinsing them off in the stream and shaking his head, _their friends must hate me._

Derek moved from his spot to walk around the perimeter, ears perked up as he listened for any sign of other people, body relaxing when he didn’t hear anything. He moved to the opposite side of the fire and laid down, watching the flames and glancing at Stiles over the top of them.

There were times that he wished he could shift back just long enough to talk to his friend for a few minutes, never about anything in particular - but just to let Stiles know he wasn’t talking to a brick wall.

“Cant say I’ve done this before,” Stiles muttered, slicing the fish open and ripping out the guts before setting each one up and moving back to the stream to wipe his arms off, again. He walked back, rolling the innards in a bag from his pack and setting them up by a tree nearby - something was going to eat it, or it’d disappear into the earth, either way he’d not like to be around when it happened.

He sat by the werewolf’s head and started combing his fingers through the fur of his mane. It’d been years since he’d heard the guy speak, but he didn’t mind - he knew Derek - he understood what the alpha was about.

In some ways, the silence was nice, because it made him feel like they didn’t have to do much more beyond that. Still, though, that pull was there, and some times he’d give in some, to let the werewolf know how he felt - just a bit. Like telling Derek, straight-faced, that he couldn’t live without him.

“How’s your wounds, buddy?” He asked, looking at Derek, reaching down to ghost his fingers over the one on the alpha’s shoulder.

Derek tried actually focusing on the pain but it was subsiding more and more, so he looked up at Stiles and shrugged dismissively, letting him know it wasn’t bad.

He, in turn, leaned up enough to nudge his nose against the wound on Stiles’s cheek as if to ask ‘ _And you?_ ’. If the younger man was going to pester him about his wounds, then he’d do the same, he’d probably even do it if Stiles didn’t give a shit about him, to be honest.

“Ah, ‘tis only a flesh wound!” Stiles said, grinning and pushing Derek’s muzzle away, “Yet another, to add to the collection.”

He shrugged and sighed, scratching the alpha’s cheek, “I keep trying to think of how the fuck we’re going to get all of the way to Salem without catching someone’s attention. I might pass off, but they **do** actually know me, so maybe not. You though, my furry friend, are not gonna cut it.”

He narrowed his brows, “You’d probably be better off as an alpha anyways. The second they realize who you are, they’d likely skin you alive.”

There wasn’t a soul in the world that didn’t know Derek Hale, he was more than hunted, he’d be a fucking trophy for any hunter. Stiles’s best friend in the world, and he was someone people would point guns at, ask questions later - a target, a terrorist.

It made him sick to think anyone could treat Derek that way, the guy was a fucking victim and, after everything that he’d been through, he deserved nothing short of reverence. Stiles’s body shook as he felt his tears well up and he turned to kiss atop Derek’s muzzle, fighting them back as he tried to breathe.

The alpha leaned into Stiles’s touch and whined a little in the back of his throat, wondering what was wrong - because he could see the unshed tears and smell the distress pouring off of his friend. He hated seeing Stiles upset, because there was no real way he could comfort him, couldn’t wrap his arms around him in a tight hug, couldn’t soothe him with words or anything.

Chances were likely that Stiles was just worrying about what was ahead for them, thinking too far into it when he needed to be focused on the here and now.

Derek pressed his muzzle back to Stiles’s face insistently and licked his cheek, trying to tell him that it’d be okay.

Stiles’s bottom lip shook and he turned away, breathing and reaching out to pull the cooked fish from the fire as he wiped his eyes. He ate in silence, packing the rest away in their bags.

Sure, they had provisions, likely plenty of them, but he wasn’t ready to delve into those unless they had absolutely no alternative. He killed the fire and stood, grabbing up his pack and handing Derek his as they started across the stream.

* * *

“There’s over a thousand miles between us and Salem - I’m just saying, we’ll need a vehicle at some point in there. I can walk, but we’re still talking like... Four hundred hours of walking,” Stiles muttered to himself as they broke through the brush and onto an open road.

“I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time I walked for that long, consecutively. And that’s not even considering the obstacles and... Creatures of the night, hunters, cities. Do you even realize how ironic it is that we're terrified of our own kind? It's ridiculous how worried we are about _humans_ , of all things. The things they do to one another... Makes me disgusted to be one of them.”

“Once you get down far enough into things you start seeing all of the lies humanity brings in to excuse the fucked up shit they do to one another,” Stiles knew he was getting off on a tangent, but he felt like he needed to, kicking the rock across the road as they moved carefully along, “All kinds of things that they... Wanted to get away with. You point your finger and people just believe you. It’s always been that way, and it hasn’t changed. The only difference is that the lies have gotten better. People don’t really fall for the guy blaming his adultery on a Succubus anymore, now it’s about... Daddy issues and abandonment and shit. Well... They might actually believe the Succubus story now, now that I think about it.”

Derek listened to his friend the best he could, only slightly distracted as they walked down the road, glancing back behind them every minute or so, listening carefully for any sound of an engine. The last part of Stiles’s little tangent made him huff and he turned to look at the smaller man, subtly nodding his agreement.

“I’ve been thinking about how to set things right,” Stiles said then, licking his lips, “How to make them see, how to make them understand who you are. Humans are normally more violent to things they don’t understand. They freak out when it comes to the unknown.” He started thinking aloud, “We’re breaching the sixth year of them knowing, and they aren’t any the wiser. All they know is kill. And... I’ve been so removed from the human race that... I don’t even know if we have a president any more, or if it’s just some crazy mess and there’s not really any leaders beyond the person calling the shots.”

Derek looked at Stiles seriously and whined, ears flattening back on his head as they walked. _They’ve been brainwashed to think a certain way, it’s not gonna be easy to get them to see the truth. If we could though, if we could expose the ones who’re spreading the propaganda, then maybe we could cause a revolt. That’d be perfect, if we could find some way to just overthrow everything._

“It’s the Argents,” Stiles shook his head, “It’s that fucking family,” He was all but seething. There’d been a time when he would’ve called Allison a friend, but that was a long, long time ago, “You know...” Stiles looked nervously at Derek, “No matter how I look at it, it’s not gonna end well. Too much blood has been drawn on both sides. Once it gets passed a point, it’s too far. Even if they put their wolfsbane bullets away, how many werewolf packs and families have they ruined?"

"Look what happened with the native Americans, only they can’t wolf out and rip people into slivers of meat. How many werewolves do you think are actually gonna buckle down and take a treaty up the ass without a say so? I only really know of you, and even **I** can say not very many. Hell, I’ll probably be right beside them. Look at what we’ve lost, just you and me. What would **we** settle for?”

Derek would settle for a treaty, and if that made him naive and selfish then so be it, Stiles knew the way he thought so it wouldn’t be that surprising. As usual, Stiles was right though, there was no way a treaty would stay in place because the werewolves wouldn’t stand for it. He knew his own kind enough to know that they’d wait until the Argents were lulled into a false sense of security, and then they’d attack, which would only cause another uproar.

“Maybe we just have to settle into the war, until one side wins,” Stiles shook his head, “I don’t see it going any other way. I couldn’t even begin to guess who it’d be. And now that I’m not really lending my smarts to the mid-west, pretty sure we’ve lost it over there. It’s like fucking X-Men bullshit. Mutants or humans.”

He looked at his friend, wanting to touch Derek, wanting to be closer, wanting to curl up in a hole somewhere with him and never have to leave it, “Everything I look at is some kind of treaty idea. Werewolves can’t possibly think they have to kill every single human to get revenge, where do they want to draw the line? Maybe we need to figure out what our side wants before we try to think of how to stop the opposition.”

Derek sighed and moved closer to Stiles, tilting his muzzle so that he could lick the side of his friend’s face, trying to let him know that it’d be okay. If they had to huddle together in a cave in the middle of nowhere, struggling for food for the rest of their lives, then he’d be willing to do that. He just wanted Stiles to be safe, first and foremost, and he was somewhat glad that the younger man understood that things would probably get ugly, get worse before they got better.

Stiles grinned and turned, he scratched behind the werewolf’s ear, tilting his head as he considered something that had been plaguing him for a while now. He stopped, suddenly, clearing his throat, “Umm... So I know it’s like... A really touchy subject with you - and we don’t ever talk about it - but I feel like it’s time I said something.”

He took a breath, “You know I definitely, definitely don’t have a problem with your werewolf form, not in the slightest. You could’ve been like this when I first met you, and you can stay like this for the rest of our lives, I still would’ve chosen to side with you, and been your best friend in the world. But I really... I just-I miss talking to you, man. Like I get it, I talk to you all the time, but... I seriously miss your voice.”

Derek had wanted to shift back so many times within the past couple of days, if only just to tell Stiles how he felt once - but there was always a nagging fear in the back of his mind that the younger man would bring up the past, and he still wasn’t ready to talk about it. If he changed back, he’d need to know that Stiles would let him open up on his own terms and not push the issue.

The alpha lowered his head and looked away nervously.

“Look, I won’t,” Stiles moved, following Derek’s line of vision, “I know what you can and can’t handle, Derek. I won’t push you any more than I do right now, okay? Come on,” He laughed nervously, “You know I wouldn’t do that to you, I... I don’t think I can handle it myself."

"Every time I try to think of things before-even last month, I start shaking like a leaf. I don’t wanna talk about it now either, if ever; probably not. I was just saying that I miss it... I even remember the last thing you said, like I think about it all the time.” He didn’t say it aloud, he knew Derek knew too well what it was. ‘ _Just don’t do anything stupid_ ’, he could even remember the look on Derek’s face, stern and sassy as he changed.

The alpha nodded minutely as his body began shaking. After being in his alpha form for so long, he wasn’t really sure how difficult it’d be to change back, but he closed his eyes and focused on his anchor - on Stiles - and started to will himself to change. But he stopped.

He looked around and growled just as a big truck peeled out of the road behind them and headed towards them, guys standing up in the back and zeroing in on them with their rifles. The alpha panicked, eyes glowing as he looked at Stiles, urging him to run.

Stiles shouldered his pack tighter, throwing up a shield around them before he bolted, “Oh go fucking figure,” He breathed as he heard the screeching of the tires back on the road. Though he wasn’t really running blindly, it might as well have been that way, considering he couldn’t see a thing ahead through the dense trees.

He lost his footing as the ground gave out beneath him and he hit the heavy slope hard, pack escaping his arms and he started rolling down the steep hill, little plates of rock catching each fall. He kicked his foot out on the next branch passing by and managed to turn his body, falling now on his stomach, feet first as he continued to drop.

The alpha followed and fell just as hard as Stiles, but he found his footing and managed to push off, jumping to the bottom in time to catch the younger man and straighten him up.

He looked around quickly, trying to spot Stiles's bag but to no avail, so he grabbed his friend and took off - they could always worry about food and supplies later after they were safe. The werewolf barreled passed a couple of trees with Stiles in tow just as a whole different group of men moved out of hiding, pointing their guns directly at his face.

“I can walk,” Stiles breathed painfully, _maybe_ , “I didn’t break anything,” _I don’t think_. He moved from Derek’s arms and froze, eyes widening and he put his hands up, “Oh, uh... Hi.”

The man at the front of the group shook his head, “It’s just some kid and his pet dog.” He looked Derek over and shook his head, “Pet alpha dog, but a dog nonetheless.” He rolled his eyes and nodded his head, “Kill the mutt, the kid’s done nothin’, unless he’s a werewolf too.”

Stiles through out his shield again and the bullets pinged off, “Woah, woah, wait. We’re... We haven’t done anything wrong,” He glanced at Derek nervously.

“A mage?” The guy raised his brow in surprise and sized Stiles up.

One of the other men moved forward a little, gun still drawn as he chuckled disbelievingly, “With a dog, no less.” He furrowed his brows and looked at the man to his left, recognition in his eyes, “Isn’t Derek Hale a black-furred alpha?”

The werewolf heard his name and moved slowly to stand in front of Stiles, growl low and threatening as he stared the men down. He glanced back over his shoulder at the younger man pointedly, trying to get him to get with the program before they ended up getting gunned down.

“Fuck,” Stiles breathed and pushed the sleeve of his arm back, grabbing another one of his emergency spells and throwing it out as the letters lit up.

He pushed his shield out, stronger than before as the area in front of them exploded and he was knocked off his feet - even with it up, he’d still not managed to protect them as much as he needed to, but he was also worn from the fight in the village, magic waning without enough recuperation.

Derek watched and instinctively reached up to guard his face before turning to look at Stiles after hearing the younger man hit the ground. He moved quickly and nudged at his friend’s side before picking him up, running faster than he had in a long time.

He knew that he needed to make as much distance as possible before the hunters that’d been in the truck caught up. It was a close call, one of many, and he was steadily growing tired of it - being painted as the villain and having to run because of it.

“Wait,” Stiles breathed, wincing in pain, “We can’t go, my spell book, my pack.” His chest hurt, for more reasons than one, but he turned into the alpha’s fur and breathed Derek in. Yet another thing he’d lost along the way, second to the last security blanket he had.

If Derek gave in and went back, he’d risk running into the other hunters and he wasn’t really in the mood for more confrontation, but he knew how much the spell book meant to Stiles and, if he had to risk his life in order for his friend to get it back, he would.

He circled back around and came in from a different direction, headed straight back to the hill they’d both fallen down. The alpha listened intently and could hear the men talking a good distance away, as long as they were quiet about it they’d be able to get away easily.

He sat Stiles down carefully and started looking around for the book and the back pack.

Stiles walked out at once, making distance from where he’d landed. He remembered it being slung from his arm and he moved out, closing his eyes and willing the book to make itself visible to him.

He opened his eyes and gasped, “Derek!” He breathed as he saw the bright, glowing blue light halfway up the hill.

Derek nodded and furrowed his brows before climbing up the hill, dirt falling away under his feet on the trek up. The closer he got to the book the more he could hear the hunters talking, he grabbed it quickly and slid back down as quietly as he could, shaking the dirt off of himself before handing the spell book to Stiles.

“Thank you, seriously,” Stiles breathed and raised his brows as he moved and picked up the pack a few yards away at the base of the hill, slinging it over his shoulder and moving quickly, putting up a cloaking spell for the next mile they walked. His whole body ached, and his chest felt like something was pressing in on his sternum, but he ignored it for the time being.

* * *

When Derek felt they were far enough away, he sat down pointedly, trying to tell Stiles that he needed to stop because his breathing was labored, and every step the guy took resulted in him wincing. He huffed, letting Stiles know that he didn’t have a say in the matter and that they weren’t moving until he felt better.

Stiles stopped and turned to the werewolf, “No, Derek, we have to keep walking.”

He swallowed, face red as he held onto his pack - two could play at this game, “Those hunters, they know who you are, and if we don’t move... They’re gonna have this place swarming with their little buddies within the next few hours. We can’t afford to stop.”

Derek rolled his eyes and stood up before moving forward, circling around Stiles and throwing his head back, gesturing to his back, telling him to hold on - it was the only way he’d agree to keep going, if he could carry Stiles.

“Oh my god,” Stiles growled in annoyance - spending too much time around a werewolf’ll do that to you. He moved and climbed onto Derek’s back carefully, he knew he wasn’t heavy, but he didn’t know how hurt the alpha was, himself, Derek was pretty good at hiding his pain. But Stiles knew that he couldn’t handle much more without proper rest.

The alpha didn’t walk, instead, he ran, and ran some more - he went until he could hardly move, daylight fading into dusk as he sat Stiles back down. He all but collapsed in the same spot, panting and whining miserably. The younger man wasn’t heavy, Derek was just exhausted from being on the move constantly, worn from all the stress and his wounds.

Stiles dropped his pack, pressing his fist to his mouth as he cursed under his breath and sat down. He turned to Derek and combed his fingers through the poor guy’s fur, stomach knotting up sickly and he pulled his gun from its holster.

He couldn’t use much more magic, but at least he had some means of protecting them, “Now would you sleep?” He whispered, fingers moving to scratch under the alpha’s ear and down his neck. He was so pissed that he couldn’t breathe, but he kept it back, now wasn’t the time, Derek needed rest.

The older man watched Stiles warily for a few minutes before letting his eyes drift closed, lifting his muzzle weakly and dropping it on Stile's thigh. He trusted his friend to look out for him while he was out, knew Stiles would keep him safe just as he would in return. The alpha didn’t want to sleep, but he needed it in order to be alert - and the last thing he felt before he completely fell asleep was Stiles’s fingers in his fur.

* * *

Through the rest of the night, Stiles went through a myriad of emotions, most of it being varied shades of fury and anger. The rest was the same broken, wounded feelings he had any other time of the year. He was pissed that they were even in the situation they were in, considering all of it stemmed from one place - a fucked up woman doing a fucked up thing, and the only victim of it left was a terrorist in his own home country.

Stiles remembered the story coming out that poor Kate Argent was murdered by a werewolf, and then later members of her family started dying, her brother’s wife, her father, and various unnamed others caught in the crossfire.

People had come with their ‘torches and pitchforks’. Stiles had only gotten mixed in because he was a nosy teenager, listening in to his dad’s home calls.

He remembered most of all Scott, standing back and siding with Allison. The pack standing behind Derek because he was their alpha and he’d taken them in, and the only person that put themselves between Derek and the people of their home town was a gangly little nineteen year old boy, with wide brown eyes, and who’d known Derek Hale just a bit longer than he’d known about werewolves, and was barely on a first name basis with the guy.

He could never get over that, even if Scott was on their side now, he hadn’t been then - when it’d really mattered. The only person that came through was his dad, which was probably more out of unconditional love than anything else.

These people chasing them, the hunters of the world, might as well be chasing a one-legged deer with more holes in its pelt than hairs. Not to mention the fact that Derek was just as clueless, just as innocent as he was when he’d lost his entire family. Then, years later, fished out of the darkness by the murder of his last remaining kinsman at the time; his older sister.

Stiles didn’t think then what he did now, that even when he first met Derek, the man was already beaten. Still, still then, just as innocent as Stiles was - still now. Hell, just because Derek was a werewolf didn’t automatically make him a bad ass hunter killer. He knew things, sure, but he was a victim, and from a very early age, shown nothing but judgement and criticism at every turn.

And Stiles was fucking fed up, he was tired of Derek being chased. He was tired of the werewolf having nothing to show for his efforts and his suffering. And he was tired for himself as well. He wanted something too, he needed something more than what they had now - they both did.

Derek woke up the next morning stiff as hell, stretching out before looking at Stiles. The younger man looked beat, anger set deep into his exhausted features.

The alpha whined a little to get Stiles’s attention, wondering why he smelled so bitter as he rubbed his cheek on his friend’s thigh. It wasn’t really like Stiles at all to stay up and keep point, that was usually more Derek’s thing - he was just thankful that the smaller man extended him the same courtesy when he needed it.

Stiles glanced down at the werewolf and sighed, “Hey,” He spoke softly, scratching behind Derek’s ear and all but shaking as he breathed, “So, I’ve been thinking a lot... About a lot of things and I think I’m... Not really going to take this shit anymore. I know you don’t like talking, but I need you to hear me out. We can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep taking their shit and wallowing in the shadows as they hunt down every furry fucking creature in the world, looking for you.”

He narrowed his brows, “I’m tired of you taking their shit, when it should be the other way around. And I’m not really sure how I’m gonna do it, but I’m gonna show them. Just...” He stood to pace, looking at Derek then, “How can you actually stand back and watch them, and let them do this? I know you’ve lost like... Everything in the world that gave you purpose, but don’t you at least want to get even? Because I do. And that’s not me, normally.”

Derek furrowed his brows as he listened intently to Stiles, wishing he could just calm him down somehow. He stood as well and moved to the smaller man, looking him in the eyes as he shook his head in the way of a response. _I haven’t lost **everything** that gives me purpose, and **that’s** why I don’t wanna fight back, because I can’t lose you, not after everything we’ve been through - you’re all I’ve got left_. The alpha whimpered sadly and tilted his muzzle to press their foreheads together.

“I know, I... Fuck, I _know_ ,” Stiles breathed as he closed his eyes, tears stinging them as he breathed, “It’s the same for me, but that’s why I **want** to fight.” He opened his eyes and pulled back, staring at Derek, “That’s why I’m going to fight, whether you will or not - so I don’t lose you.”

His bottom lip quivered as he blinked, reaching up to touch the alpha’s furred cheeks, combing his nails through and smiling weakly, “You’re worth fighting for, Derek. And we can’t last much longer without doing so.”

At times like these Derek wasn’t sure where their friendship line ended and something else began, because what they had wasn’t definable by any standards - it was more than companionship, they needed one another, probably even more than they needed oxygen to live.

The alpha huffed his defeat and leaned back in to press the wetness of his nose to Stiles’s. If the younger man wanted to fight for a chance to live in peace, then he’d be by his side - they’d either succeed or they’d go down trying.

Stiles licked his lips as he breathed, heart racing, “I’m tired of waiting for everything else to happen, tired of skirting around every obstacle in my path, and I’m tired of being comfortable and settling with what I already have because I’m afraid of wanting more.”

He started to say something else but paused, looking around them tentatively and then gasped in surprise at the sudden burn in his right shoulder. All at once, he was on his back, blood pouring from an open wound that he could just barely make out.

Derek had been so intent on listening to what Stiles was saying that he was completely caught off guard when two other alphas came out of nowhere to hold him in place, eyes widening in fear as he watched the younger man fall to the ground.

He could smell the blood, see it gushing out of Stiles’s shoulder and, as much as he struggled and fought against the other werewolve’s strength, he couldn’t get to the younger man.

Derek turned his attention then on the woman walking towards him, eyes glancing down to the gun in her hand before raising his hackles and growling at her.

She didn’t smile as she stepped in front of him, looking him over before nodding to the two alphas holding him back, “Pretty sure this is Derek Hale. Take him back and uh-“ The woman turned to look at Stiles’s writhing body before gesturing to the rest of the pack, “Kill the mage.”

Derek’s eyes flashed bright crimson as he fought tooth and nail, trying to dig his claws into the ground so they couldn’t take him - but he was overpowered and his efforts were fruitless.

He looked over his shoulder at Stiles and howled, panicking and trying to tell him to get up, to run, even though he knew the younger man wouldn’t make it far.

Stiles started to sit up as the front of the gun was put in his face, he stopped and stared down the barrel, swallowing as the older man shook his head and cocked it. A boot was planted in his chest and he was pushed back down to the ground.

He kept his eyes firm on the man, mouth closed tight as the trigger was pulled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season: 9 (Interpretation, based on the direction and outcome of other shows).

When Derek heard the gunshots and turned to look back, the other two alphas had already taken him too far away to even see Stiles’s figure on the ground. The sounds of the shots resonated throughout his body and he felt himself shaking, eyes watering as he bellowed out a pitiful howl. _No, no, no, no, this isn’t happening_. He felt his insides twist sickly at the imagery, imagining Stiles laying there with his skull pumped full of bullets and he suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe.

The only person he had left was just ripped from him, torn away like it was nothing - and in reality, the younger man was truly the only thing that had been holding him together.

The alphas moved through the forest at a breakneck speed, leaving the rest behind as they ran to the edge of the trees, stepping out onto the highway and joining the group of betas standing guard around a large black van. They tied him up, putting a muzzle around his snout and locking him down in the back.

One of the alphas shifted back and dressed quickly, pulling the phone from his pocket and dialing out. Once the person on the other side picked up, the man started speaking, “He had a boy with him, Stiles Stilinski - the mage,” He paused and nodded, “Yeah, we took care of him. We’re on our way back now,” He said as he walked around and climbed into the driver’s side, starting the van and taking off down the road.

* * *

Two weeks and three days of constant pain, every thought, every breath Derek took made him writhe in agony - but no matter how much the werewolves tortured him, it never hurt more than knowing that his last tether to reality was gone.

Being tied up and pumped so full of wolfsbane that he couldn’t think straight was a welcome distraction, being electrocuted until he was sure his heart was going to stop seemed like an escape - and as much as he tried to give in to the looming presence of death, he couldn’t. For the most part he stayed curled up in the corner of the cage they’d been keeping him in, lost in a constant stream of memories he had with Stiles, wondering what it was that justified the younger man’s death.

Then at some point he’d overheard a couple of betas talking about Allison, rumors about how they were going to try and use him as leverage, offer him up as a big, fat peace offering in order to try and stop the war. The fact that Stiles was taken from him just so his own kind could use him as a treaty set loose an unfathomable rage within him, but as angry as he was, he still didn’t see the point in fighting - because the harsh reality was, regardless of what he did, Stiles would still be gone.

The alpha werewolf walked in from the main room, stalking slowly to Derek’s cage and looking in at him, watching him for a moment as if considering the broken man. Most of the time it was two that retrieved him for torture, but this one was larger, more violent looking than the rest. He unlocked the door of the cage and pulled it open, walking in to take Derek’s chains from the wall and clasp them together in front of him.

Derek’s ears perked up the second he caught the familiar scent, immediately reminding him of Stiles. He’d been tricked before, the mage that resided with the werewolves took part in most of the torturing, trying to lure him, disguising himself as Stiles - and the first couple of times he’d actually fallen for it, because he was so desperate to believe that it was the younger man. Derek moved from one corner of his cage to the other as he growled, eyes set firmly on the alpha holding his chains - he wasn’t falling for it again, if anything he wanted to rip the werewolf to shreds just for mocking him.

The other alpha stopped, eying Derek warily and moving in close to him once more, it’s eyes wide as it nodded to the shackles, holding them out as if to say ‘please, don’t fight me, you won’t make it out on top’.

Derek shook his head defiantly and flashed his eyes at the alpha, confused as to why the lot of them wanted to torment him like this, taunting him and reminding him of Stiles - maybe they realized that was the only way they could actually torture him, was with the memory of the younger man. He swung his arm out, claws extended in an attempt to maim the alpha a little, to let him know he wasn’t going to back down.

The alpha backed away and side-stepped Derek, grabbing him by the throat and shoving him against the wall, forcing the shackles in place and staring him in the eyes once more. It didn’t growl, or even really breathe, but it’s eyes were cold and empty as it stepped back and motioned for Derek to walk.

Derek pushed against the alpha’s hold and snapped at him, hackles raised as his growl became louder, more threatening. He kicked the other alpha’s footing out from underneath of him and shoved forward, sending the werewolf straight to the ground.

The alpha reached a hand up and, without saying a word, or even touching Derek, he shoved the other man against the wall. The hulking figure stood and moved to Derek, grabbing his neck once again and staring him in the eyes intensely. Still, it didn’t growl, and it managed to overpower Derek without even really trying.

Derek’s eyes widened and he choked, trying to claw at the paw pinning him in place. It was definitely the mage fucking with him again, because it wasn’t like werewolves actually had the ability to sling things about without touching them. He struggled against the hold but stopped the second he realized how useless it was, panting for breath as he reigned his anger back.

 _I wish you fuckers would just kill me already_.

The alpha turned and moved then, pulling Derek along once it realized he wasn’t going to fight anymore. But instead of walking out the front way, it stalked deeper through the basement area of the building they were in, passing empty cages and stopping to wrench open the lid to the sewers below. It did so by holding out it’s arm and lifting away the metal, ripping it open as if tugging by an invisible string. It turned back and motioned for Derek to go first.

Derek snarled at the other alpha, but went ahead begrudgingly, trekking aimlessly throughout the sewers. He was a little confused, though, because generally when they came to torture him, it was two instead of one, and they sure as hell never forced him to move this far from his cage.

The alpha followed Derek silently, leading him whenever they needed to turn. Otherwise, still, it stayed as silent as before, and finally moved to the exit of the sewers, forcing the sealed door open the way it had with the lid. Light filtered in and it walked out, waiting for Derek patiently as it surveyed the area - a long, open field, void of anyone else.

Derek followed and winced as he fell, legs giving out from exhaustion and pain - the only toll the torture had taken on him. He looked up at the other alpha and growled again, licking his canines as he whined and forced himself back up.

When he noticed where they were, he furrowed his brows in confusion, almost positive that he was led there specifically so the other alpha could kill him - maybe the truce with Allison hadn’t went through. It was alarming, though, because if this was actually the end for him, he knew he wouldn’t fight - if anything, he’d embrace it.

The alpha’s form suddenly seemed to wither, as if he were losing mass inside of him, the eyes disappearing, fur becoming more coarse and losing its sheen. The gums dried out, teeth losing the glisten of saliva along them, and suddenly it appeared to be nothing more than a dead alpha’s skin made into a suit.

The person inside turned, unsnapping the clasps on the back and shaking off the coat before moving to Derek with tentative, shaky fingers, large tawny eyes staring at him in concern.

Derek’s eyes widened and he began shaking his head in disbelief, trying his hardest not to fall for it. Not only had they taunted him with the younger man’s scent, but now they were mimicking his body as well?

 _It’s not Stiles, Stiles is gone, he’s dead_.

The alpha whimpered and his eyes watered as he  tried to back away from the figure because it wasn’t real. It was just an illusion, it had to be.

Stiles moved closer, hands reaching up to take Derek’s face, nails scratching through the fur of the alpha’s cheeks as his own eyes watered, “It’s me, Derek, it’s really me.” He was shocked by how the older man was reacting to him, the horror, fear, and sorrow he saw in his friend’s eyes breaking him up inside and he felt the tear slip down his cheek.

The alpha remained still and stared at the figure, eyes still blown wide with shock as he tried to take it all in. He was almost positive that it had to be Stiles because of the way the younger man was touching him, no one else had ever done that - it was signature Stiles.

It felt like his chest was constricting, painful in a way that made him feel like his heart was going to burst from relief and happiness at the same time. Derek moved forward and wrapped his arms around Stiles, all but knocking the younger man to the ground as he hugged him tightly in case it was actually an illusion, body trembling as tears fell from his eyes down into his fur.

“Hey, big guy,” Stiles said as he grinned, turning his face into Derek’s neck as his hands moved to scratch behind the alpha’s ears. It hurt to see him this way, to know what the alpha had been through the past couple weeks, all of the suffering and torment, and thinking that he was dead. He couldn’t think of a way to make it better, but he was going to try.

Tears were stinging in his own eyes, but he was so happy, more than happy, knowing that he’d gotten Derek out of the hardest part of the entire break-in, “Hey, it’s okay, I’m here, buddy.”

Derek whimpered and pulled back to look down at Stiles, eyes full of tears as he stared into the younger man’s eyes.

_Please let this be real, please, please, please._

He’d heard the gunshots, though, there wasn’t any way he could’ve gotten away. The alpha leaned back down and pressed his nose to Stiles’s neck and scented him, reveling in the familiarity of it before laving at the skin and then his friend’s face, trying to convey how much of a relief it was to see him.

Stiles laughed, his own sobs choking through them as he scratched adoringly over the werewolf’s muzzle, “It’s really me, I promise. No trick, no more torture, it’s really me, Derek.”

It felt good, to see the way he affected the alpha, to be treasured that much by anyone, considering neither of them had anyone left to do it. He tried to sit up, fingers moving and scratching Derek in his favorite spots, pleasing him as much as Stiles knew possible.

Derek leaned into the touches and let his tongue loll out as he breathed, looking at Stiles curiously as if to ask ‘ _But how? How did you get away?_ ’.

He leaned forward and rubbed his muzzle against his friend’s face, wincing just slightly as sharp pains shot throughout his arms and legs. Seeing Stiles again, being able to actually touch him made Derek forget about all the aches and torture he'd been put through, even the wolfsbane still riddling his body.

“Later, okay? We gotta move,” Stiles stood suddenly, checking his watch, “About a mile from here is a truck, they’re waiting for us to get there, and then we can get you to safety. I know you’re wounded,” He grabbed the werewolf’s cheeks, wincing as he did so, taking some of the pain into himself to relieve the alpha, gasping sharply as the agony curled inside of him. He took as much as he could, all but sobbing in pain, body shaking as he looked at Derek.

The older man watched Stiles worriedly as he felt the pain being suctioned from him and into the younger man, whining in concern as he stood. The hurt he’d been feeling was almost unbearable for him, and he was a werewolf - he didn’t even want to think of what it felt like for Stiles. The alpha moved and picked Stiles up - it was the least he could do considering what his friend had done for him - and took off through the field.

Stiles turned into Derek’s neck as he pointed the right direction. The pain was almost flooring, but he smiled weakly and tentatively pressed his lips into the alpha’s fur, “I missed you, sourwolf.”

He reached up, scratching under Derek’s ear once more and breathing as steadily as he could, “I’ve been trying to get you out this whole time, it... It wasn’t easy.” _Not in the slightest_.

The alpha nodded and continued running in the direction Stiles had pointed him in, clutching the younger man’s smaller body close. _I missed you, too. I don’t think you understand just how much. I thought I’d lost you_.

Derek was thankful that Stiles hadn’t given up on him, and that he found a way to get him out - but part of him was worried how he’d managed to pull it off.

“I know, it probably looked pretty bad, I can’t even imagine,” Stiles shook his head, “Hell, it was pretty fucked up from **my** point of view, but it wasn’t really by any stretch of miracle, I just... I guess I’m glad that Deaton taught me the whole flinching shield muscle reflex thing, or I actually **would’ve** died.”

Stiles stopped and breathed Derek in, smiling to himself, honestly proud that he’d managed to save the alpha, “I’m sorry it took so long. I wanted to get it to you, somehow, that I was alive. But the group of us agreed that it was best everyone thought I was dead.”

Derek raised a brow at Stiles to convey his curiosity, wondering exactly who the group of people were and why they’d agree to help the younger man. He stopped running when he noticed the truck, standing hesitantly about fifteen feet away. He lowered Stiles to his feet tentatively, leaning in to lick his friend’s cheek strictly because he could.

Stiles chuckled and led Derek to the back of the truck, limping from a part of the pain he’d pulled from the alpha. He met the eyes of the driver and the passenger before opening the back and climbing in, pushing around the free hay and grabbing up his spell book. He checked it over before he motioned for Derek to join him.

The werewolf moved hesitantly but settled into the back of the truck next to Stiles, leaning to press his nose to the warmth of the younger man’s neck. It was probably irritating, but he couldn’t keep to himself, it was like he needed to constantly be touching Stiles, reaffirming that he was real.

“It’s fine,” Stiles reassured the werewolf, “Hell, we might as well lay down and sleep, this is a twelve hour drive.”

He shifted for them both, pulling Derek with him and pressing his back against the furred chest, taking more of the alpha’s pain into him as they laid there together, “You...” He breathed tightly, the pain hitting him hard and he turned to nuzzle the top of Derek’s head, “You must be in so much pain right now.”

Derek growled at Stiles, trying to tell him not to take any more of his pain, he could handle it as long as he had the younger man with him. He lifted his paw and brushed it along the smaller man’s shoulder, trying to bury his face in Stiles’s neck to drown himself with the younger man’s scent.

“Oh shut up, or I’ll punch you in the balls, okay?” Stiles argued back, tilting his head just slightly for the alpha, “Oh yeah, you wanna see something really gnarly?” He turned over to face Derek, dropping his jacket from his right arm and pulling it through the sleeve and under, out of the bottom hem of his shirt to lift the obstacle away.

Nearly half naked, he turned his bare chest into the dark fur of Derek’s sternum as he showed off the torn skin, still sewn up, from the gunshot wound.

The werewolf whined low and sad in the back of his throat as he observed it, looking between the wound and Stiles’s face before lapping at it, paw moving to settle on the younger man’s stomach to hold him still. _I can’t believe that bitch shot you. It amazes me how you take everything like a champ, though_.

Stiles’s cheeks heated, eyes darkening just slightly as he watched Derek lick him and he reached up to scratch the alpha’s ear and down between his brows, “What’s another scar? Nothing,” He breathed out, closing his eyes at the feeling of Derek’s rough, wet tongue running over the makeshift stitches, “She uh... Won’t be trying it again. That’s for sure.”

Derek laved at the stitches until all the dried blood was gone, glancing at the wound one last time before pressing the wetness of his nose to the younger man’s heated cheek, nudging at it playfully before licking the corner of Stiles’s mouth. Nine times out of ten he was crossing some sort of boundary, but over the past two weeks he’d thought about their last conversation and how hard the younger man’s words had hit home. _I’m tired of being comfortable and settling with what I already have because I’m afraid of wanting more_.

Stiles felt the direction of Derek’s thoughts and stayed quiet. After their most recent shocks, he’d had time to rethink his admission, and wasn’t so sure they were ready for it just yet. They could wait. He had to put the alpha’s needs before his own. Maybe he was just dropping back into that settle for comfort, but he didn’t really care; it was likely all he was going to get, before he became a magic slave to Renner. He turned his lips to Derek’s muzzle and pressed what might’ve been able to be construed as a kiss there.

The alpha pulled Stiles closer but was careful not to hurt him, all but whimpering as he pressed his forehead to the younger man’s cheek, paw still resting on Stiles’s stomach. He knew that the smaller man could sense his thoughts somewhat, Stiles could **always** tell what he was thinking without him ever actually having to say anything - so he wasn’t really sure how to interpret Stiles’s silence.

Stiles pulled more of Derek’s pain from his body, a few of the stronger hurts and aches from the wolfsbane, concentrating on the hurts that would take longer to get over, ones that were more considered Derek’s kryptonite. He could feel the difference inside of the alpha, a softness, a closeness, less guarded to Stiles - even though before he never would’ve considered Derek guarded, but this was... Interesting. He didn’t seem so worried about boundaries so much.

Derek practically gasped as he felt the pain draining out of himself, making him feel more alive than he had in a while. He shook his head, eyes pleading with the younger man to stop. Saving him was one thing, but he didn’t want Stiles to take the pain as well - he didn’t want to have to spend their reunion watching the only person he loved writhing in pain.

“I’m fine, dammit,” Stiles breathed, a sudden sweat breaking out on his forehead and he panted shakily, “It’s nothing compared to what you’ve been through. I can take it.”

Besides, he had a pretty fucking high pain tolerance, and he’d been without much in the time that Derek had been going through Hell, probably literally - he could take this for his friend, he wanted to, “I know you’re in a lot of pain, I can feel it. I don’t mind **actually** feeling it, as long as it eases yours.” His whole backside was aching and he turned to lay on it, off his side, hands trembling as he did so.

 _You may not mind, but I do, I don’t wanna see you like this. I’ve been in near constant pain over the past two weeks, seeing **you** in pain isn’t at the top of my list right now_. The werewolf huffed but moved to lay down beside Stiles, draping his arm over the smaller man’s stomach as he pressed his nose against his friend’s temple, wishing he could take all the pain back.

“Don’t even think about it,” Stiles breathed in uneven puffs, “I haven’t been in really any pain besides my shoulder, okay? I wanna feel this.” He felt the tears sting his eyes as he turned into the wet touch of Derek’s nose, “I wanna know what you’ve been going through in there. So don’t you... Dare... Try to argue with me about it; we go through this shit together.”

The alpha growled at Stiles’s stubbornness but let it slide because it was true, they were a team and they went through everything together - and if the roles were reversed, he’d do the exact same for Stiles. He tried to distract him from the pain, though, because he knew first hand just how badly it hurt. Derek ran the wet tip of his nose along the cords of Stiles’s neck, he doubted the rough scratch of his tongue would provide any relief but he licked the salted skin anyway, up the younger man’s neck and along his jaw.

Stiles felt his cheeks heat, probably not just from the fever he was getting, but from the fact that Derek was being rather... Forward. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, baring his throat to the alpha as his hands moved along, scratching Derek still. He wasn’t really sure what was happening, considering he had a specific, silent agreement to himself, but he liked the way Derek was attempting to... Nurture him?

Derek stopped pestering Stiles and curled around the younger man’s frame almost protectively, pressing the end of his snout to his friend’s right eye in an attempt to get him to go to sleep. The pain would be more manageable that way, something he’d realized when he was held captive. The alpha stretched out his hind quarters and laid his head just next to Stiles’s, huffing out a content breath.

“Okay, I’ll at least give you that,” Stiles agreed, touching Derek’s muzzle with one hand and pressing his lips to the opposite side before nuzzling the fur and scratching in time with the turns of his head, “Don’t you dare stay up though, big guy, you need the sleep more than I do.”

He closed his eyes and grinned, feeling the softness of Derek’s fur against the bare skin of his torso, since he still hadn’t put his shirt back on, and listening to the heavy breathing of the werewolf by his side. He’d never feel as safe as he did with the alpha - he had to enjoy these moments, before he lost them forever.


	4. Chapter 4

“Pretty sure this is Derek Hale. Take him back and uh-kill the mage.”

Stiles’s stomach all but bottomed out when he heard the words, causing his body to tremble even more than it already was. He started to sit up as the front of the gun was put in his face.

He stopped and stared down the barrel, swallowing as the older man shook his head and cocked it. A boot was planted in his chest and he was pushed back down to the ground.

He kept his eyes firm on the man, mouth closed tight as the trigger was pulled.

He had a split second where he closed his eyes tight, thoughts flashing through his mind, Derek, what could werewolves want from his friend - considering he’d been the symbol of their rebellion, or some shit? How would Stiles be able to protect him, if the alpha was out of his reach? And the pain in his arm was kicking like a bitch.

He opened his eyes and stared up at the bullet suspended before him. Sound drowned out, and he saw the second one appear by the first before he moved, standing, arms flailing as he threw them out and expanded his shield, knocking the werewolves onto their backs.

The woman had started walking in the same path as the two alphas who’d led Derek away when she heard the commotion, turning back to find most of the pack picking themselves up off the ground - and to make matters worse, the mage was still alive, and apparently putting up a fight.

She moved then, quickly, almost sprinting back and drew her gun, barrel pointed at the young man, “You just won’t go down, will you?”

“Yeah, not so much,” Stiles winced, “I’m weird like that.”

He pushed his palm out to her, knocking her off her feet and stumbling forward to kick the gun from her hand. He checked back, ducking as a werewolf came at him and he pulled one of his emergency spells up from the skin of his right arm, drawing it out and willing the roots of the ground to rise up and drag them down underneath.

He turned once more, stepping on the woman’s arm and staring down at her as blood poured from his wound, “Now... Where are those men taking my friend?”

She grunted when she hit the ground and screamed when she witnessed the extent of the young man’s powers, eyes wide in fear as he stepped on her arm, “Just south of Tucson! Let me go, I won’t warn them.” The woman writhed and stared up at the mage, trying to get free.

“Are you kidding? You ordered my death, you took my friend, and you shot me - you bitch,” Stiles glared down at her before looking at the hole in his shoulder. There was a time, years ago, when he would’ve actually considered sparing her life, but not anymore.

He picked up her gun, moving back and nodding to himself, “Tucson?” He asked before he aimed for her chest, directly over her heart, and pulled the trigger.

He sat then, grabbing his bag and pulling the first-aid kit from it, stitching himself in the front, and blindly in the back - screaming in pain nearly the entire time. His fingers were covered in blood when he was done, gasping and sobbing as he stood and started walking, blood drying to his shirt.

He followed the direction the alphas had taken Derek, trekking through rain and mud on his own with very little to no sleep. He wasn’t sure what carried him through it - be it the blind fucking rage he felt for what’d happened, the fact that he’d never finished his sentence, or the idea of what Derek was going through, he’d never really know, but he was seething, all but foaming at the mouth, during the entire journey.

He finally reached a town, one that probably should’ve been considered more ruins than city, and he numbly joined the line of people waiting to be served food. Stiles was sure he smelled like rot or worse, but he’d grown accustomed to it. The others around him looked worse, nonetheless, and he only planned on stopping long enough to find out how the fuck far Tucson was.

There was an older man sitting nearby, watching as Stiles approached the line. He stood slowly, looking around to check if anyone else had realized who’d just stumbled into their midst. No one even seemed to care, but he did. He’d heard plenty about the young man, walking side-by-side with Derek Hale, the black alpha - yet here he was, alone, and in a bad way.

Chances were the younger man was oblivious to the fact that he had a bounty on his head just from being in cahoots with Derek - if he acted quick he could probably get the younger man out of the area without anyone noticing.

The older man moved and approached the line, stepping just behind Stiles before clearing his throat, speaking just loud enough for the mage to hear, “Stilinski, am I right?”

Stiles turned, eyes wide as he looked at the guy. He was better dressed than the ones in the line, cleaner, but nastier looking. Eyes as cold as ice, and an aura that made Stiles immediately uncomfortable.

The man had to be at least fifteen years older than him, or more, and Stiles tilted his head as he realized that the guy was a werewolf, “Yes,” He said tentatively, swallowing, “How do you know my name?”

The older man smiled knowingly and looked around before glancing back at Stiles, “Kid, you’re wanted, everyone in the U.S. knows who you are, along with your alpha friend - why are you showing your face in these parts?” He shook his head and stared at Stiles seriously, “It’s not safe.”

Stiles frowned at the other man’s words but he didn’t show his concern. He just narrowed his brows and leaned in to the man, “I just took down five alphas, and have been walking for three days straight, you really think I’m worried about being wanted? I’ll kill anyone that stands in my path, I’m pissed off enough to do it. So what do you want from me?”

The guy put his hands up in an attempt to show Stiles he meant no harm, relatively speaking and chuckled before offering his hand, ignoring the mage’s question, “The name’s Renner.”

He raised an inquisitive brow and looked around, trying to spot the infamous Derek Hale, “Where’s your buddy, way people talk you two don’t separate.”

“We don’t,” Stiles confirmed, shaking the man’s hand warily, “He was taken from me, and I’m going to get him back - the moment I figure out how to get to Tucson. But don’t even think that’s an opportunity to try and get me for your bounty, you’ll be dead before you can say ‘Finstock’.”

The older man knew how powerful Stiles was, and with the kid looking for a way to save his friend - all Renner could see was an opportunity. “I’m not looking to bag you for bounty,” He shrugged a little and smiled again, “I can get you to Tucson, but what exactly would you be willing to bargain in return?”

“Anything,” Stiles said at once, glancing around at the people in the crowd and moving from the line, far enough out of earshot as he watched Renner speculatively, “But I have to have your word that this isn’t some game, because I will murder you, even if this is a set up, I’ll find a way.”

“Not a set up,” Renner squinted at the younger man, smile almost turning venomous, “I’ll get you to Tucson, you have my word. All I want in return...” He tilted his head a little and looked Stiles over, “Is you... and your powers of course. You agree to be my mage and I can get you on the road right now.”

Stiles considered the deal, but revised it before he’d agree, “You get me to Tucson, and you help me save him, that’s the deal. And then I’ll give you anything you want - the moment he’s able to take care of himself. Then, and only then, will you have me - not a moment before.”

He’d meant it, when he said he’d give anything. His friend wouldn’t like it in the slightest, but as long as Derek was safe, that was all that mattered.

* * *

When Derek woke up, the truck was still moving and he yawned, blinking slowly as the wind rustled his fur. He lifted his muzzle from Stiles’s neck and licked the side of his face, trying to wake him in order to make sure he was okay. The alpha felt a little better - weak in general, but the amount of pain the younger man had drained from him helped drastically.

Stiles stretched and grinned as he felt the warm, wet tongue of Derek Hale running over his cheek and he turned his head, opening his eyes and blinking as the rough muscle licked across half of his lips before stopping, “Hey,” He said, voice worn from sleep as he felt the stick of Derek’s wet fur against his chest.

He looked down, realizing that he was covered in a sheen of sweat, “Wow, okay.” _Gross_ , he thought, cheeks flushed from his fever.

The alpha whined curiously and stared at Stiles, trying his best to ask the younger man how he was feeling. He could feel the heat radiating off of his friend and it worried him. Of course, being as close as he was probably wasn’t doing much in the way of helping Stiles. _I wish there was something I could do, anything to make this easier on you._

“Get me some curly fries,” Stiles muttered weakly, turning into Derek once more, running his shaking fingers through the alpha’s fur, “Don’t worry about me, big guy, I can handle this.”

He pulled back and sat up, checking the symbols on his arms. He was down to just four now, which meant he’d have to make more soon, probably before Renner came to collect, “So, from what I understand, the group of werewolves that caught you were trying to trade you over to Allison, to try and get the war to end. They weren’t really successful and, by the time I showed up to save you, things were already looking bad for them. I uh... I killed this mage in their main quarters, and that was pretty much all I had to get through, to get to you.”

Derek sat up as well and rested his paw on Stiles’s leg, nodding his acknowledgment. _I heard a couple of them talking about it, wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. I had a general idea, though._ He was glad the plan had backfired on the other werewolves, served them right for separating him from Stiles.

“I can’t believe they’d turn on their own kind like that,” Stiles rolled his eyes, “Oh shit, I almost forgot,” He pulled his pack up from under the hay and rummaged through it, yanking out a bundle of cooked fish wrapped in paper bags, offering some to Derek and starting to eat his own, “Hope you don’t mind your food well done.”

 _Desperate times call for desperate measures._ The alpha grinned at Stiles for the first time in what felt like forever, showing his teeth before leaning to take a piece of fish. He scooted closer to the younger man intentionally, growling his contentment as he chewed on the food.

Stiles laughed, pulling his shirt on finally and leaning in to Derek as he ate. His chest was tight, throat sore and face stuffed with sickness, but he was happier than he’d been in a while. He checked his watch and wasn’t surprised when he realized it’d been nearly eleven hours already. They’d both needed the sleep, and might as well have taken advantage of the break.

* * *

As the hours wore through, Stiles’s fever got worse - wolfsbane was poisonous to humans, but taking in the pain from it, from Derek, had done something very different. He was now at the mercy of something that even werewolves couldn’t really handle.

He could barely move, but he stubbornly crawled from the back of the truck, grabbing his bag and his book as they walked into the inn that the truck had stopped at, paying out a room for them and numbly moving to the door with the large letter 7 as he used the keys to let himself in.

Derek followed Stiles, never more than an inch away just in case the younger man collapsed. His worry evolved into something more intense, so much so that he was almost constantly whining, nudging the back of Stiles’s neck whenever he could. Sweat was pouring off of his friend and if he didn’t do something to try and handle the fever, it was likely going to kill the smaller man.

The alpha moved into the room behind Stiles and closed the door, automatically going to the bathroom to fill the tub with cool water. He walked back out into the other room to usher Stiles into the bathroom, gesturing to the water with a nod of his head. _We’ve got to get your fever down_.

Stiles sighed and nodded, “Alright, alright,” He agreed, setting his bag down as he patted Derek’s muzzle and walked into the bathroom. It reminded him of something you’d see in an old western - the large vintage, clawfoot tub with the shower-head pipes sprouting from the ground. He wiped his nose, struggling to drop his jacket from his arms - it hadn’t been so bad before, but taking in Derek’s pain must’ve done something to his own wounds that he hadn’t foreseen.

Derek moved around to Stiles’s front and hooked his claws up underneath the hem of the shirt, lifting it as gingerly as possible before letting it fall to the floor. He whimpered a little and rubbed the side of his muzzle against the younger man’s collar bone before pulling back and nodding to the jeans. The alpha would’ve unbuttoned them himself, but he didn’t want to risk accidentally shredding them.

Stiles wavered on his feet, reaching up to unbutton his jeans and just letting them slide down his legs as he touched Derek’s arm, leaning against the alpha and stepping stiffly from them. His whole body was a throbbing mass of ache, his head felt like a ten ton sack of cotton and swollen glands - barely able to swallow, barely able to breathe through his nose, ears aching, and every joint in his body all but creaking as he moved.

The werewolf wrapped an arm around Stiles shaky frame, offering him support. He pulled back a little and stared the younger man in the eyes as he hooked his claws under the elastic waistband of his friend’s boxers, pushing them down enough so that they’d fall off of his hips like the jeans had.

Derek helped Stiles step out of them before moving the younger man to the tub, chest pressed firmly to the heat of his friend’s back, brushing the coolness of his nose against the side of his neck.

Stiles’s eyes widened just slightly as he felt Derek move in so close, and he wanted to be able to do more, to have more with the werewolf. The dizziness was overwhelming though and it definitely wasn’t the time or place to push things further. Still, he sighed in appreciation, dropping his head back slightly and exposing his neck more to Derek at the wet touch of the alpha’s nose. His shaking hands gripped the werewolf’s forearms as he glanced down his body at the multitude of scars.

Derek licked the side of Stiles’s neck just once, as if to say ‘I’m here for you, I’ll take care of you’ before letting his left paw glide down the side of the younger man’s body tenderly, touching the back of his friend’s thigh as he helped him into the tub. The water was cool, so Stiles’s reaction wouldn’t be necessarily positive, especially since his body was riddled with fever.

“Thanks,” Stiles breathed, brows narrowing as he stepped into the tub, eyes widening as he gasped and forced himself to continue, and settle down as his body shook, “Oh my god, I’m so two breaths from shoving my fist into your solar plexus.” He let out a tight breath as he crossed his legs and closed his eyes, “ **Fuck** , Derek.”

The alpha huffed indignantly and sat down next to the tub, arm resting over the edge of the porcelain. _Don’t threaten me, all I’m doing is trying to help you._ He moved his paw within the water, creating ripples, trying to keep his eyes on the smaller man’s face as he dribbled water up on his friend’s chest. The temptation to look elsewhere was overwhelming, but as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t - Stiles was sick because of him, looking just to satisfy himself was selfish.

Stiles chuckled, pulling up a handful of water and dumping it over his head, causing his bangs to flop down into his face, “Look all you want, I don’t care,” He always made it a habit to call Derek out on his bullshit quips - the man was **never** selfish - if looking at Stiles’s body would please him, Stiles definitely wasn’t going to argue it; even if he felt like he wasn’t much of anything to look at. Derek liked it, and that was good enough for him, “Really, I don’t. Look all you want.” _Please_.

Derek all but rolled his eyes at Stiles, because **of course** the younger man would know what he was thinking, it never failed. He furrowed his brows and let his gaze lower, along Stiles’s neck and chest, staring at the pale ivory and noting all of the scars.

The alpha’s paw moved within the water up to the younger man’s hip, tracing the scar there, eyes fixated on the soft patch of hair just beneath his friend’s navel. He’d seen Stiles shirtless before, so most of it wasn’t exactly new to him, he could even probably point to every single scar with his eyes closed - but he’d never really allowed himself to want to look further, felt like he didn’t deserve to because they were just friends.

Derek made himself look further, eyes widening minutely as he took in the downy pubic hair surrounding the smaller man’s flaccid cock, breath caught in his throat as he licked his canines.

Stiles didn’t bother covering himself up, labored breaths escaping his mouth instead of his stuffed nose. He was a **bit** nervous, who wouldn’t be? But he didn’t have anything he’d hide from Derek about his body. It actually felt good, not just to have the alpha looking at him, but to be showing himself to the older man - that was actually something he wasn’t expecting - to be proud of it.

He’d never really been very self-conscious, growing up, but he’d also never been completely comfortable, like Jackson - able to flaunt himself in every direction. Or like Derek, knowing what he had and using it as a method of persuasion, more often than not. Stiles wasn’t nearly comfortable enough for that, but he was comfortable enough to share his body with the only person left in the world that meant anything to him.

He blinked silently and looked at Derek, smiling sheepishly as if to say ‘see, no biggie’, but he kept silent as if to **also** say ‘don’t be shy, and don’t stop’.

The alpha lowered his paw from Stiles’s hip down to his leg, brows furrowed as he traced another scar to the inner thigh. Looking was one thing, but the younger man never told him that he could touch - part of him was just hoping that it was okay. He was reigning himself back, though, he wasn’t touching Stiles the way he wanted to - but he felt like this was more sensual, more intimate, showing the smaller man his intentions with the soft brushes of his paw. _God, you’re beautiful._

If Stiles’s face hadn’t already been red from sick, it would’ve lit up at once. He could hear the alpha thinking it silently before, but to cast it out like that? As an actual statement? It was one of the strongest things he’d heard from the werewolf, and it surprised him that he could get half hard so fast.

His face probably **did** drop a few shades then, but he still didn’t bother to cover himself up. “Yeah, you can touch me. I’m...” _yours_? He stopped himself from saying it, closing his mouth and nodding, “Go ahead.” He dumped another handful of cold water over his head, reaching up to touch his shoulder, over the stitches of the angry wound.

Derek raised his paw a little higher, hesitant because the timing didn’t feel right. He wanted Stiles, of course he did - but he didn’t want the younger man to be in so much pain the first time he actually _touched_ him. The longer he stared at the hardening length, the more it felt like his throat was drying out with want, and if he would’ve been in his human form, he was positive that he would’ve been blushing.

He drug the tips of his claws through the soft pubic hair gently before pulling his paw back, leaning forward more to lav at droplets of water falling from Stiles’s jaw. _Not yet, it isn’t right. I want to, you know I do - as soon as you feel better, okay?_

“I wasn’t talking about that, you fucking perv,” Stiles said as he laughed, words slurred because of his stuffed nose, and fuck, it hurt to laugh, “Oh my god, your mind is in the gutter.”

He turned and looked at Derek, “You think I want _that_ right this minute? No.” He took the alpha’s claw, setting it on his already heavy chest and staring at the older man, “ _Touch_ , that’s all I want, I’m not asking anymore than that. I can’t believe you actually thought I was telling you to touch my dick, oh my god. Derek fucking Hale, ladies and gentlemen.”

 _If you didn’t want me to think that then maybe you shouldn’t have told me to 'go ahead' when I was already touching you in the first place. You may be in pain but you’re making it pretty tempting to sink my claws into your chest_. The alpha shook his head and groaned miserably, raising his other paw to cover his muzzle. If Stiles wasn’t sure of his intentions before, he sure as Hell was now.

“Shut up, sourwolf,” Stiles said, grinning and turning as he leaned out of the tub, taking Derek’s claw from his face and staring him in the eyes, “If I don’t feel ashamed and cover myself - sitting here completely naked in front of you - you have no right to even try to hide yourself for this. Don’t be ashamed, don’t be embarrassed - I’m not. I’m... Well aware of your intentions, and I trust you, okay, dude? Seriously, we’re good.”

Derek stared back and growled at Stiles, not threatening, but enough to tell him to shut up as well. _The cool water helping any?_ He dismissed the embarrassment and leaned to press his nose to the younger man’s cheek, huffing in relief when he realized the fever was going down. _Should get you out soon before you get all pruny._

Stiles laughed and shrugged, “I guess, I felt pretty awful getting in,” He closed his eyes, breathing slowly and nodding, “How do you feel?” He asked as he scratched idly at his stitches before pouring a handful of cold water over the angry wound.

 _Considering you keep taking the pain instead of letting me feel it, I’m okay._ Derek whimpered just a little and nudged Stiles’s hand away from the wound so he could lick at it a little more, trying to soothe the younger man the best he could. _So when are you gonna tell me who these people are that helped you? And why would they agree to drive twelve hours just so you could save me?_

“Not now, Derek,” Stiles tried to side-step answering the alpha, “Let’s worry about it later, when you’re better, okay?” He shifted, pulling the plug on the tub and carefully standing up. He hated feeling like he was lying to the alpha, even though he wasn’t - but avoiding the truth wasn’t any better, really.

Derek sighed but stood as well before helping Stiles out of the tub, moving to grab a clean towel from the rack before wrapping it around the younger man’s body.

The alpha walked Stiles back into the other room and sat down on the edge of the bed as he moved his paws, drying the smaller man the best he could, watching and damn near salivating as ripples of water cascaded down his friend’s body, highlighting all the scars.

Derek moved forward and lapped at the scar he’d traced while Stiles was in the tub, the one on his hip, Derek’s personal favorite. _As if having a favorite scar on someone else’s body isn’t weird._ He whined a little in the back of his throat, paws on the younger man’s hips as he urged him to turn around.

Stiles willingly let himself be led around by the werewolf, smiling as Derek dried him and stared down along his body before licking him; that lupine tongue jutting out and curling around his hip. He grinned wide, fingers tracing the scar once Derek had stopped, as he considered the fact that it was the alpha’s favorite. He turned around then, standing firm, albeit numb and weak, offering his backside to the older man.

The alpha ruffled the towel along the younger man's skin and let it drop to the floor when he felt like he was dry enough, eyes widening curiously when he noticed a shiny white scar just beneath Stiles's left ass cheek. He curled his claws around the smaller man’s hips and moved him forward as he dropped to his knees, giving into his wants as he tentatively licked at the scar, nose barely brushing the fleshy part above.

_Why haven’t I seen this one? I mean, it’s hidden yeah, but I don’t remember what this one is from._

Stiles gasped in surprise, cheeks flushing furiously as he felt too many things at once. There were Derek’s claws clasping him, being repositioned, the weight of the alpha behind and beneath him and the wet nose, plus it’s partner in crime, delving into creases he was seriously not expecting, “Oh my god, Derek,” He said as he reached back shakily and touched the alpha’s ear, his cock jumping, filling completely and _holy fuck_.

Derek smelled the arousal pouring off of Stiles, but he stayed focused on the scar, laving at it tenderly, kneading the younger man’s hips with his paws as a low, satisfied growl resonated throughout his chest. _I think I have two favorite scars now. Yeah, pretty sure._ The alpha nibbled at the flawed skin with his incisors, soft and playful as the top of his muzzle brushed constantly against the crease of Stiles’s ass.

“Oh,” Stiles panted, body flushing then as his eyes widened and watered, as he felt the precome beading on the head of his dick and... Derek seriously didn’t know what he was doing. Sure, Stiles imagined he was aware he was turning Stiles on... But the younger man had never, _never_ been touched like this. And it’d been so long since he’d had anything that felt so incredibly good. The growling, the teeth, the fucking licking, and the wet lupine nose nudging between his cheeks. His hand scratched tentatively behind Derek’s ear as he all but whimpered.

It was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore the heady scent of the younger man’s arousal the closer Derek's nose nudged to the crease of Stiles’s ass. He hadn’t been stopped yet and in all honesty, his curiosity was getting the best of him, body damn near aching to taste Stiles. The alpha pulled the smaller man back a little more as the tip of his nose pressed between the ass cheeks, sniffing and filling his senses with Stiles’s arousal before his tongue curled out between the fleshy orbs, brushing against the sweet puckered entrance to sate his need.

Stiles’s dick throbbed incessantly, precome leaking, dripping down his length and he didn’t know what to do with himself anymore. His legs were shaking, his free hand moved to cover Derek’s claw for support, the left one back behind him, twisting into the soft hairs on the crest of the alpha’s skull. He knew if he even dared to touch himself he’d come, it was best to keep his hands busy otherwise, body writhing as he pushed back against the rough tongue.

“Fuck, Derek,” He breathed, voice worn as he felt the tears finally break free, slipping down his cheeks. The last thing he needed was to cry, he was already sick and stuffed up but, then again, it probably wouldn’t make much difference.

 _You taste so good, wish I could finger you._ The alpha growled again and laved out against the heat repeatedly, head tilted slightly to lean into Stiles’s touch. _I want you, and as soon as we’re both able, I’m gonna take what I want._

Derek was having a difficult time controlling the more feral side of himself as he licked the smaller man open, claws scraping against Stiles’s hips as he nudged and rooted eagerly against the tight little hole. _ **Mine.**_

“Y-yours,” Stiles panted, like he’d wanted to earlier, “Jesus fucking christ, Derek, yours.” Oh god, he was so close. The claws on Stiles’s hips, digging in, caused a dollop of precome to drizzle out and he actually **was** sobbing now, tears pouring down his face.

His shaking hands moved, reaching back to spread himself open shamelessly, leaving it to Derek to hold him up because the alpha was pushing him so much that he actually had to change his footing to stop from falling over.

Derek growled hungrily, holding Stiles in place as he stiffened his tongue a little, curling it against the rim, imagining what it’d feel like stretched over his cock. The younger man’s heady arousal was clouding his mind, making it hard for him to remember that Stiles was in pain - all he could think about was how sweet the smaller man tasted, how he wanted to mark him up, ruin him for everyone else.

“What makes you think you haven’t already?” Stiles breathed, sniffling, voice broken as he panted through the tears and tried to blink them away, looking down at the scars littering his body as he whimpered, “More of these scars are for you than not. That’s what I think, when I look at them - your marks.”

He closed his eyes again as his back arched, “ **Please**.”

The alpha’s ears laid back on his head as he nibbled on the sensitive flesh just next to the puckered entrance, running his tongue over it, claws digging to the softness of Stiles’s flesh a little more. He pressed lower, cool tip of his nose brushing the younger man’s balls in a teasing manner, tongue following suit as he laved at the sac greedily.

Stiles opened his eyes, looking down and watching the curling of the tongue, “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” He carefully let go, arching his body even more as he reached back and ran his fingers through the soft fur on the back of Derek’s neck. He could feel the tightening in his balls, biting his bottom lip as he tried to hold back his orgasm, sharp breaths escaping through his mouth as he curled his toes.

Derek could smell just how close Stiles was, so he forced the younger man to turn to him slowly. He hesitated for only a moment - long enough to watch the little bead of precome stream off Stiles’s cock to the floor - before leaning in and curling his tongue around the purpling cap, keening as he focused solely on the tip. _Don’t fight it, let me taste you._

“Derek!” Stiles’s shoulders raised to his ears, legs straight as his hands grabbed the sides of the alpha’s head, fighting the urge to buck his hips because it wouldn’t do favors for either of them. He ended up shifting slightly anyways, another tear dropping down his cheek and he came, gasping and nearly screaming the older man’s name over and over again.

Derek smoothed his paws along Stiles’s hips as he moved to catch the come, lapping at it greedily as it spilled from the younger man’s cock, sweet and bitter at the same time.

It was difficult to believe that Stiles was letting him have this, letting him indulge in something he’d wanted for a long time - but he was thankful, even if it was only a one time thing. The alpha ushered Stiles around and had him lay on the bed as he licked his way from the smaller man’s spent cock clear up to his neck, nudging playfully. _How do you feel?_

“Sick,” Stiles responded, still in awe as he squirmed slightly and pulled Derek close, his tears dampening the alpha’s coat, “But so seriously fucking good, thank you.”

He was shaking still, little tremors causing his body to twitch and he grinned. It was a nice escape from the heavy sick, and the afterglow was just settling as he ran his hands up and down Derek’s arms, “And not... Not a one time thing.”

The alpha whimpered happily and wrapped his arm around Stiles’s waist, licking the smaller man’s mouth, along the crease and damn near almost licking the lips apart. _I should be the one thanking you, didn’t realize how much I needed that. I didn’t hurt you any, did I?_

Stiles shook his head, “No, of course you didn’t, are you kidding me?”

He chuckled and nudged Derek’s muzzle, “You were so gentle it was ridiculous. Though...” He looked down at his hips, the indentations left from Derek’s claws and he traced over them, “I like it, so no, you didn’t hurt me.” He looked back at the alpha and grinned, leaning in to press a short, heated kiss to Derek’s thin lupine lips.

Derek met Stiles’s kiss with a little lick to the smaller man’s mouth, brushing their noses together as he stared into the mage’s beautiful tawny eyes. _Did you mean what you said? I know I was getting territorial and whatnot but... did you?_ Deep down he already knew the answer and, if he was being honest, he was just as much Stiles’s as Stiles was his - maybe it wasn’t like that in the very beginning, but it’s definitely what it had evolved into over the years.

Stiles raised his brows curiously, smiling wider though but giving nothing away as he tested Derek’s curiosity, his need for confirmation, “Did I mean... What?” He asked softly, tone innocent and teasing as he watched the older man.

The alpha rolled his eyes and huffed next to Stiles’s cheek, growling his irritation. _Don’t play coy with me, you know what I mean... When you said that you’re... **mine**. Did you mean it?_

The way Derek thought _**mine** _ had Stiles all but trembling as he felt the impression of the word. He nodded, finally, staring Derek in the eyes, “Yeah, I meant it, that shouldn’t surprise you - I’ve been yours for... A good while now.”

 _Doesn’t really **surprise** me per se. It’s just... as long as we’ve been skirting around this - and you know we have - it feels good to finally hear it, I suppose._ The werewolf tried his best to shrug halfheartedly, nuzzling his snout lovingly just beneath Stiles’s jaw.

Stiles nodded again, scratching Derek’s ears and licking his lips before he kissed the top of the alpha’s head, “Yeah, it does.”

He felt the tears prick his eyes as he remembered that this wasn’t something he’d have again. Renner would be there to collect, soon enough, and he’d likely have to pry Stiles from Derek’s arms, but it’d happen. Promises on magic were binding, and the other man had kept his word; Stiles wouldn’t feel right betraying the agreement.

“You’ll probably never understand what you mean to me, sourwolf. I’m sure you have an idea of it, but you don’t really know.”


	5. Chapter 5

Stiles had been sitting outside the city limits for hours now, Derek’s head rested in his lap as he ran his fingers through the alpha’s fur. It was a peaceful, quiet escape from everything they'd been through, with no immediate danger... As far as Derek was concerned. Stiles, meanwhile, was internally panicking, his soft scratches through the older man's fur accompanied by the occasional tremble of his arm.

For a whole week now, he’d managed to avoid Derek’s concern over just **how** he’d managed to pull off saving the werewolf. And with him getting better everyday, Stiles knew that their time together grew shorter - Derek probably could’ve taken care of himself yesterday, but he wanted to be sure.

They hadn't really been intimate again since the bath. Stiles knew it was something that the both of them respected too much to speed up, but he couldn't help worrying that he'd never get a chance to be like this with Derek again. He couldn't warn the alpha, or let him know that what they had now would be all they **ever** had, but the irony didn't escape him.

They'd cared for their relationship more than any other, they'd been by one another's side through the thick of everything, and they'd come out the other side. Not completely unscathed, but still somewhat whole. And now that they were together again, Stiles was going to be ripped from Derek's arms, now that he actually **had** them.

Stiles could still remember how he'd felt when he took Derek's side, when everything had felt so completely hopeless, and he'd had to make his choice, had to choose between Derek and Scott - the betrayal he'd seen in his old best friend's eyes. Yes, Scott had changed since then, but Stiles could never forget how he hadn't even felt conflicted, not for a moment. He'd always known, in his heart, that Derek was a good person, and that siding with him was the right thing to do.

_"Stiles, what are you doing here?"_

_"We have to go," He said, his voice not nearly as firm as he'd like it to be. He could feel Derek's confused eyes on him as he walked passed the alpha and moved through the room, collecting their research, the bestiary Stiles had been working on for nearly two years now, and anything else he deemed completely necessary. They couldn't sit around and grab up everything, Stiles knew people would be on their way soon enough._

_"What's going on, Stiles?" Derek started to actually sound concerned, realizing that something was really wrong.  
_

_"They know," Stiles breathed as he lifted up the left side of the weapon's chest and started to drag it over the floor of the loft.  
_

_"Let me get that, you'll hurt your back-"  
_

_"I'm not fifty years old, Derek."  
_

_The alpha stared at him pointedly and raised a brow in challenge.  
_

_"Alright fine, you take it, but we need to hurry," Stiles admitted defeat and moved to Derek's bed, grabbing the books from the side drawer and stuffing them in one of the duffles as the rest of the pack started to respond, Peter coming down from upstairs and Isaac rising from his bed in the other room, bare feet padding over the ground as he joined them._

_Stiles's cell phone trilled suddenly and his heart was racing as he looked around at them before continuing to make sure he'd gotten what they needed and trying to think of anything he'd forgotten.  
_

_Peter looked around them and then met Stiles's eyes as Derek hoisted up the chest, "Who's coming? What's going on?"  
_

_"Just get ready," Stiles said as he met the older Hale's eyes, "Get dressed, grab what you need, but we have to be out of here within the next ten minutes."  
_

_Isaac grabbed Stiles's arm as he passed the younger werewolf and they stared at one another, "Please, Stiles."  
_

_"You're scaring the pup," Peter said as he watched them both, "We can't really go anywhere if you don't tell us what's going on."  
_

_Stiles's eyes flicked from Isaac's, to Peter's, and then to Derek's as his cell phone continued to ring, "The Argents - Gerard, even Allison, I think... My dad got a call, they're coming, not just the Argents but... A lot of people, a lot of the town, they know about you three. They know about werewolves, they're coming here."  
_

_"How-"  
_

_Stiles shook his head, his eyes watering, "I don't know, I didn't stay long enough to listen, we have to go."  
_

_"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Peter asked skeptically, and Stiles didn't blame him, but it wasn't the time.  
_

_"I hope I'm overreacting!" He shouted, looking at them, "Oh my God, I seriously do, but I don't think I am, and it's better to be safe than sorry. Derek," He looked at the alpha, "We don't have time to ask Stiles questions, can you just listen to me and trust me with this one, please?"  
_

_Derek stared at him for a moment, the chest still up in his arms and he nodded, "Get dressed, grab what you need, we've gotta move."  
_

_Stiles smiled weakly, even though he was shaking and nervous and terrified, and he wanted to cry or scream, or bury himself back, but he was thankful for Derek's sudden bout of trust.  
_

_Peter was up the stairs within a heartbeat as Derek took the weapon's chest out of the loft and Stiles saw Isaac slink back into his room. He proceeded, himself, to go around and grab a few more things. He'd already packed up his things from his own house, and he finally pulled his cell from his pocket and frowned when he saw his dad's number.  
_

_Stiles unlocked the phone and called his dad back, listening as it rang for a second and he heard the panicked voice on the other side.  
_

_"Tell me that you're not at Derek Hale's right now."  
_

_Stiles swallowed and responded at once, "I'm not at Derek Hale's right now," He said as he zipped up his pack, "I just went back out to the campus to pick up a few things."  
_

_"Stiles-"  
_

_"I'm not lying," Stiles lied, "Don't use that tone with me, just because you think I'm naturally disobedient. I'm not at Derek's, why **would** I be?"  
_

_His dad sighed and Stiles knew that Peter and Isaac, and probably Derek, were all listening in on the conversation.  
_

_"I get a call from the station and you leave the house not ten minutes later?" The sheriff asked in annoyance, "I heard your jeep leave, Stiles. I'm not deaf-did you actually jump out your window just to avoid being seen?"  
_

_"Dad-"  
_

_"You're at his house, aren't you?"  
_

_Stiles pulled the pack onto his shoulder and turned to Peter and Isaac as the three of them left the loft, "Nope. I told you I wasn't, I'm at the campus, I forgot-"  
_

_"A few things, yeah, I heard. Don't get hurt, Stiles. There's people that know about what he is, and they're not acting rationally right now, you're human, there's very little you can do, just let the police handle it... **For once**."  
_

_Stiles felt Peter's hand on his arm as he wet his lips and met the older Hale's concerned eyes, "I love you, dad, I've gotta go." He hung up on his dad and turned off his phone.  
_

_"Stiles," Isaac said suddenly as the elevator opened and Stiles looked out to Derek's hatchback, feeling his heart race, his chest clench and he dropped the bag, running across the parking lot as fast as he could.  
_

_He knew he was human. He didn't need to be reminded of what he was, he was every bit aware of it as he was two years ago, when he'd first met Derek Hale. He knew he couldn't do much, that he was weak, and that Derek and him had never really seen eye to eye, but they understood one another now, at least.  
_

_Stiles had helped him and saved him more than once, he'd held the alpha up in water while he was paralyzed from the neck down, even before that, before he even liked Derek in the slightest, he'd still risked his neck to save the werewolf.  
_

_There wasn't any doubt in his mind what was right and what was wrong anymore, when it came to the alpha. He knew where he stood.  
_

_Sure, Derek had made mistakes, and those mistakes had resulted in people getting killed, but he was still an innocent. He was getting better, he was learning. He was a victim, and the Argents had no right thinking that they were justified in their actions against the Hale family.  
_

_"Don't!" Stiles shouted as loud as he could, catching the attention of the people advancing on Derek, the alpha backed against his own vehicle as he stared out at the mob with wide eyes.  
_

_He knew that Derek would rather have died at the hands of an angry mob, than to have raised his own against them. Derek wasn't like them, he wasn't quick to judge.  
_

_Stiles dropped the jacket from his arms, pulling the gun from the back of his jeans as he barreled in front of Derek and pressed his shoulder blades against the alpha's chest as he stared wildly at them all, placing himself between Derek and the growing group of people watching and advancing angrily, "Get back! Get away from him!"  
_

_"Stiles," Derek breathed in a concerned, annoyed tone.  
_

_"Stiles," One of the men from the front started to complain and Stiles recognized him as Dylan Fulgham's father, a boy that Stiles had went to highschool with, and he'd seen the man more than enough, even talked to him a few times, "I know you're friends with him, but you're too young to understand - he's a killer."  
_

_"Yes he **is** ," Gerard said as he brushed through the crowd, staring coldly at Stiles as he wiped the black ooze from his mouth and smiled, "He's a killer, Stiles."  
_

_" **You're** a killer," Stiles argued, trying to step back even though he knew he didn't have the space to do so, and the back of his entire upper half was pressed firmly against the alpha.  
_

_"Stiles, he's right."  
_

_"Scott?" Stiles had felt his entire body twist as he met the true alpha's eyes, but he continued to shake his head, "What the fuck are you doing, Scott?"  
_

_Peter and Isaac stood at a distance, the latter picking up Stiles's duffle, but otherwise staying where they were, just outside the elevator as they listened in and tried to remain as unnoticed as possible.  
_

_Scott stepped forward as well, Allison standing at his side as she clenched her jaw and watched her grandfather, "I'm trying to save as many lives as possible, Stiles. There isn't another way. Just let them take him and Peter in, so that they can answer for the lives they've taken."  
_

_"Oh yeah, and what lives are those?" Stiles asked, feeling the tears on his cheeks but ignoring them.  
_

_"Your alpha killed my daughter-in-law, and his uncle has taken so many lives, that even you haven't been able to keep up with them all, Stiles," Gerard spoke up, "One of them was my daughter."  
_

_Stiles shook his head, "And what about you? What about the lives **you** took? Scott," He glanced at his friend, "You saw him kill an omega right before your eyes, and Peter saw him kill Matt, both without a second thought, I'm sure it took time and experience to get to the point where killing someone didn't even make you flinch."  
_

_"Someone has to pay for my daughter's life," Gerard spoke louder, his chest puffing out indignantly and Stiles squeezed the trigger.  
_

_"Stiles!" Scott had shouted as the people scattered and Gerard's body fell, twitching wildly.  
_

_Stiles felt Derek's arm wrap around him and the alpha roared, so sharp and loud that he had to cover his eyes, already previously deafened from the gun shot. He saw other people drop to the ground at the sound and Derek moved with him, opening the back left door of the hatchback and climbing in with him as Peter took the driver's seat and twisted the keys in the ignition.  
_

_The front of the vehicle lurched as Peter drove over a bed of flowers before pulling out onto the main road.  
_

_"Wait, Isaac-"  
_

_"He's in your jeep, he's right behind us," Peter said, a little too calm for Stiles's liking.  
_

_"Is he?" Stiles asked as he looked at Derek and the alpha nodded, staring down at him as he kept Stiles close and snatched the gun from his trembling fingers, "Good, okay, we-"  
_

_"Is Scott a bad guy?" Peter asked in confusion, looking back and smirking at them, "Isn't he supposed to be against violence? What does he think'll happen to Derek and I once that crowd gets a hold of us?"  
_

_Stiles shook his head, "I-I don't know-"  
_

_"Are you okay?" Derek spoke up, turning Stiles's jaw to look him in the eyes.  
_

_"Me?" Stiles breathed numbly, "Are you kidding? I'm fine, of course I'm fine, they didn't do a thing to me-"  
_

_"You just shot and killed someone," Derek started to explain as he flicked the safety back on on his gun and stuffed it under the passenger's side seat.  
_

_"He asked for it," Stiles responded and Peter laughed.  
_

_Derek shot a glare at the older Hale and sat upright finally, pulling away and taking to the other side, "You're sure you're okay?"  
_

_Stiles stared Derek in the eyes as his body still trembled, "It was the right thing to do."  
_

Derek's wet nose touched Stiles's lips as if to break him from his train of thought and he blinked, smiling and kissing it as he basked in the heat, scratching through the alpha’s fur, “Remember curly fries?” He asked softly, staring up through the leaves of the tree he was sitting against.

_I remember how ridiculous you look with your mouth shoved full of them._ Derek rolled to his back and looked up at Stiles curiously, taking in the younger man’s pensive features. He raised his paw to touch the mage’s jaw, whining a little as if to ask ‘ _what’s wrong?_ ’ because, for the most part, Stiles had been eerily quiet - and Stiles was **never** quiet, unless something was on his mind, bothering him.

“I’m... It’s nothing,” Stiles shook his head as he ran his hand down Derek's fluffy black chest, down to his stomach, scratching through the warm fur as he tried to keep in mind how it felt to touch the werewolf, “If I wasn’t around, do you think you’d be able to take care of yourself, now? I mean... The wolfsbane is out of both of our systems now, thank fucking God, but would you be safe on your own?”

The alpha’s brows furrowed together and he sat up almost immediately, heart dropping into his stomach as he stared at Stiles. _Why would you even ask me something like that?_ Derek moved forward a little, closer to the younger man’s face, nudging Stiles’s chin with his nose worriedly.

_It doesn’t matter if I could take care of myself or not, Stiles - we’re a team, remember? We handle things together, we **have** for the past six years._

Stiles felt the tears well and he shook his head, “I know that, I know we have. But I didn’t know what else to do. You were caught... I didn’t really have a choice. Both of us are wanted, and not just by the hunters, but by the werewolves as well, and I had to do something to get you out of there.”

The werewolf shook his head and felt his stomach roll sickly at the implications. _Stiles, what did you do? Please tell me you didn’t go and do something stupid._ It had almost seemed too easy, he should’ve suspected something, should’ve persisted when Stiles said he didn’t want to talk about it. _What do you mean you didn’t have a choice? You’re worrying me._

“After I got shot, and you were taken... I met this guy,” Stiles looked away, “He agreed to help me, but on one condition - after you were healed, and could take care of yourself, that he could have me, and my powers.”

_No, no, no. What do you mean he can **have** you, and your powers?_ The alpha felt more than heard the protective growl resonating in his chest, hackles raising slightly at the thought of someone else taking Stiles from him. _Why did you do it? Why would you give yourself to someone in order to save me? I can’t lose you again. Maybe we can reason with the guy._

Stiles swallowed sickly and shook his head, “I was wounded, dying, you were gone... I didn’t know if they’d killed you, or were going to, or what they had planned, but I had to get you back. Really, how do you think I would’ve gotten to you without striking some kinda deal?”

He looked at Derek, “I told him I’d give him anything to have you safe, and I meant it. And-dammit, I’d do it again - **to save your life** , I would. It was the only thing I had to bargain with, we have **nothing** else.”

Derek felt his eyes water, and the amount of rage he felt boiling under his skin directed towards a guy he didn't even know yet was lethal. What kind of a man takes advantage of someone when they’re vulnerable like that?

_Well, I’m safe - now what? What am I suppose to do without you? And before you answer, imagine our roles reversed. You wouldn’t take this sitting down, either. We need to talk to him. Goddammit, Stiles, he can’t have you. You’re mine, okay? **Mine**._

"I know," Stiles said, trying to calm the older man, reaching out to touch his shoulders, "I'm yours, Derek, I-" _  
_

“Not anymore, you aren't.”

Stiles blinked and looked up, meeting Renner’s eyes as the other werewolf joined them, stalking out of the city limits and moving towards them, smirk plastered on his face, brows narrowed as he watched Derek.

“You seem healthy,” The older man mused before looking at Stiles, “You’re going to hold your end of the bargain, aren’t you?”

Stiles turned to Derek then, feeling his insides wrench as he started to stand and nod, “Of course, you kept your word.”

The hairs on the back of Derek's neck stood on end as he looked at the older man, growling louder as he got up and moved in front of Stiles, panicking inwardly because he’d thought he lost the younger man once, he knew in his heart that he couldn’t do it again. He couldn't just give Stiles up this time without fighting.

The alpha looked over his shoulder at the mage, eyes wide and pleading, unshed tears building. _I’ll **kill** him - I just got you back, he can’t have you. I can’t believe you did this, Stiles, I can’t. Don’t... Please, just don’t go with this creep._

“That's a double standard, big guy,” Stiles said, trying to fight back his tears as Derek defended him, “If it was you in my place, you would’ve done the same exact thing, you would’ve given anything to save me, don’t even try to argue it.”

Renner smiled coldly as he watched the exchange, “While this is all very touching, I **do** have things to do - plans for my new, sweet little mage. Come along, Stiles.”

_There’s gotta be a way to get you out of this, okay?_ The alpha shook his head at Stiles as the tears fell over, streaming down into his fur before turning his attention back on the older man, hackles raised dangerously as he blocked Stiles. _You’re not taking him, I’ll kill you first._

Renner smiled and nodded knowingly, “I thought you’d be persistent, but you see... That’s not how magic works. Promises on magic are _forced_ , whether Stiles tries to back out or not. Stiles, **come**.”

Stiles moved to walk passed Derek, reaching up to touch the werewolf as he looked at the tears wetting his fur and it crushed something inside of him to see his alpha in such a state, “I’m sorry, I don’t have a choice.”

Derek leaned into the touch and moved to follow, to try and hold Stiles back, _You’re strong, Stiles, just fight it. Don’t do this to me, I can’t be without you._

The alpha’s head was swimming, trying to think of fifty million things at once, but the only conclusion he came to was to kill the other werewolf. His eyes flashed and he moved passed Stiles, all but launching himself at Renner, knocking the older man to the ground as he snarled in his face.

He dropped his muzzle to rip the werewolf's neck open but yelped when two clawed hands grabbed his open mouth, pushing him back and pulling at the muscles as if trying to spread them wider apart.

"Derek!" Stiles shouted, eyes wide, "Stop, Renner! Don't hurt him!"

“Stiles,” Renner spoke carefully, holding the alpha at bay, “You won’t mind stopping your... _Friend_ , **would you**?”

Stiles felt his arms move without his command, lifting Derek from the other man’s body and pulling him back, the invisible force of his arms squeezing his alpha as it tugged him towards the mage. He gasped and struggled against it, but was otherwise out of his own control, magic bound to Renner because of their deal. It twisted him up inside to see his powers being abused, used against the person he cared for the most.

The alpha tried fighting against Stiles’s magic, but it was useless, he was bound, completely fucking helpless. He looked at Stiles pitifully, shaking his head as he silently begged with the mage, _**fight it** , Stiles. I’ve seen what you can do, don’t listen to him._

Derek glanced at the other werewolf, blinded with rage as he watched him pick himself up off the ground, dusting himself off with an evil smirk. _I’ll get you out of this, one way or another, you hear me?_ He furrowed his brows with determination, even though he felt like his heart was being ripped up out through his throat.

Stiles shook his head as the tears burned his eyes, “You can’t, Derek, I made a deal.”

He fought against his powers, releasing the alpha as blood poured from his nose at the strain, “Please,” He looked at Renner as he held his sleeve up to his face, “Don’t make me use my powers against him, _please_. That wasn’t–”

“Part of our deal?” Renner’s eyes darkened as he moved to Stiles, “You might want to brush up on making deals, Stilinski, there are so _many_ loopholes. I agreed to only take you when he was safe and able to care for himself - as you can see, I’ve done that. However, you made no deal concerning what would happen to him... **Afterwards**.”

Stiles’s eyes widened and his stomach sunk as he shook his head, “You wouldn’t do that, you agreed to save him, why would you–”

“I agreed, because I wanted **you** ,” Renner clarified, gaze haunting as he touched the mage’s cheek.

Derek whimpered a little when he noticed the blood streaming from Stiles’s nose, knowing it was only going to get worse for the younger man - the older werewolf would run Stiles into the ground, exhaust the mage’s powers just because he could. The moment he saw the other werewolf touch Stiles, he started seething, body shaking as he moved closer, warily. _Get your fucking hand off of him._

“He’s **mine** ,” Renner said, grinning impishly at Derek before he looked at Stiles and tilted his head, thumb brushing the younger man’s bottom lip, “Aren’t you?”

Stiles felt like he was going to be sick and he started shaking his head, tears blurring his vision, “Renner, please, don’t do this.”

The older man raised his brows, “Well, maybe not yet,” He winked at Derek, “But he will be, soon enough. He’ll be my little mage, and you don’t even want to _think_ of the things I’ll have your precious little human doing to please me. I can get... _Creative_.”

The alpha felt the urge to dry heave at this Renner guy’s words, because Stiles was **his** \- he knew it and Stiles knew it - imagining the younger man having to do things against his will was sickening. He wanted to shred the older werewolf apart, tear him into so many pieces that no one would be able to tell that he was once a man.

_You do and you’ll regret it, I can promise you that,_ Derek growled threateningly and moved quickly - before Stiles could stop him again - and ripped a chunk of flesh from Renner’s shoulder with his teeth.

"Stiles," Renner gasped and shoved Derek away, raising his brows expectantly to the mage before nodding to the werewolf, “ **Well**?” He insisted.

Stiles felt the press of command and restrained Derek again, twisting the alpha’s arms violently and moving to him, eyes flashing solid white as he forced the werewolf down to the ground.

Tears slipped down his cheeks as he shook his head, trying to fight against it, more blood dripping from his nose, down the front of his shirt, as he tried to pull back and free Derek, “Stop! Please, stop, you’re gonna make me kill him.”

“Are you mine?” Renner hissed, staring at Stiles.

“Don’t–” Stiles’s bottom lip trembled as he swallowed.

“ _Are you **mine**_?”

The younger man shook as he stared at his alpha, blinked the tears from his eyes and kept their gazes locked, Derek's red eyes pleading with him and he spoke as if he was answering his friend instead, “Yes... I **am** , I'm yours.” And his heart didn’t even stutter.

Derek dropped to his knees and howled out in pain, arms pinned as he looked at Stiles, shaking his head. The alpha knew in his heart that it was forced and that Stiles didn’t have a choice, Stiles was his and he always would be, but it hurt to hear him say the words. _I love you, you need to know that - hang on to it, okay? Don’t let go, and I’ll come for you. I promise._

“Sourwolf, I...” Stiles tried to breathe, dizziness kicking him in the gut, “Derek,” He all but sobbed out. It killed him to see the werewolf in such a way and, as much as he wanted to think things would work out, that Derek would save him, he hoped that his friend didn’t try - because he might not make it out alive.

Renner grabbed the back of Stiles’s neck and pulled him away, smiling at the alpha on the ground as he guided the mage back into the city.


	6. Chapter 6

The orders started small - doing stupid, useless things for Renner - arbitrary things as the man watched Stiles and pointed out things, flaws, things he would’ve done differently. Apparently Stiles had been casting wrong, but he’d never really gotten the time to perfect it with Deaton before his predecessor was overtaken.

Stiles was somewhat surprised by the fact that the werewolf actually didn’t do anything to him, sexually, like he’d implied (and even acted slightly on) but it was probably just a show, to Derek, to make him angry.

Stiles worked willingly, knowing it was what he gave in order to save Derek but, after a while, the requests became... _Sketchy_. And eventually, they were just dark and demented, making him kill people, werewolves, and Stiles had been defiant to start with but, over time, he couldn’t fight anymore - he didn’t have the energy to.

He wondered, most of the time, what Derek was doing, if the alpha saw the carnage Stiles was leaving in his wake, if the other man was disappointed in him. He was disappointed in himself, but when he was wiping out a village, aiding Allison’s hunters, clearing through the werewolves as if they were a bad case of the sniffles - he let his mind escape, let Derek’s tongue lap at him, felt the wet nose pressing between his legs, the claws digging into his hips as his toes curled and he couldn’t take it anymore.

The more he used his magic, the more he worried that he’d be pushed too far but, with the muscle being worked so much, it did nothing but grow stronger, even as it waned, it was getting bigger.

It was only a matter of time before he didn’t need the hunters by his side entirely.

He sat in Renner’s study, staring mindlessly as he stitched through his palm - the nasty gash smarting as he tugged the thread to pull the wound closed. Tears welled in his eyes, but he fought them back as he kept thinking of Derek, of the warm black fur, or the sharp canines, of his best friend’s little whines when he was worried. He imagined Derek doing it then, lapping at his cheek and then his hand, to clean up the blood.

Renner stepped into the room and propped himself up against the door frame, arms crossed as he smirked and stared at Stiles, eyes squinted just slightly, “I think I’ve been more than patient with you, giving you a chance to open up a little more around me - but alas, it would appear you’re not going to.”

He glanced at the nasty gash on the mage’s palm before meeting the younger man’s eyes again, his own darkening sickly, “A man has needs, Stilinski - and I want you to tend to mine.”

Renner licked his lips and let his eyes rake over Stiles’s body shamelessly, “Get undressed.”

Stiles blinked in confusion, glancing back down at his hand, the blood welling up as he fought to keep it closed, “I’m... What?” He asked nervously, stomach bunching up sickly. He’d gotten comfortable with the idea that Renner maybe... Didn’t want _other_ things from him.

“You really like to keep me waiting, don’t you?” Renner sighed and pushed off from the door, stalking closer to Stiles before reaching out, brushing his forefinger down along the mage’s chin, “I said 'get undressed'. **Now**.”

“No,” Stiles responded, standing so he didn’t feel like he was positioned to Renner’s advantage. He kept his face as firm as possible as he said: “I won’t.”

“You **will** ,” Renner smiled wider, unbuckling his belt as he stared at Stiles, “And you’ll do it now, that’s a command, Stiles. Need I remind you of our arrangement?” He grabbed the mage roughly by his jaw.

Stiles swallowed sickly before doing as he was told, stopping just to tie up the stitches before he undressed. He moved slightly from the desk when he stepped out of his jeans, stopping at his boxers as his heart raced and he shook his head, “No, I... I can’t...” _He was Derek’s_.

Renner pulled his belt out of his loops with a loud snap, eyes intent on Stiles as he nodded, “Drop them, **now**.” His eyes drifted over all of the scars riddling the mage’s body and he grimaced, “Pity you’re so marked up, you’d be handsome if you took better care of yourself.”

Stiles glared before stripping out of his boxers, “What, these?” He pointed to the scars, the one on his hip, the one on his shoulder, and then the bullet wound that was still fresh, “These are what I get for protecting the person I love - the person that owns me. And that’ll never be you, no matter what you do to me.”

The older man rolled his eyes at Stiles before stripping his shirt off, eyes fixated on the mage’s hips, “I already **do** own you, Stilinski, whether you like it or not.” He unbuttoned his jeans and slid the zipper down, “Now, why don’t you be a good little slave and hike your little leg up on the desk for me?”

“I’m not your slave, I’m a person,” Stiles said defiantly, “And you should really work on your sweet-talking, you couldn’t convince a cow to eat grass.” He couldn’t believe the older man was asking him to do something so degrading, as if the act itself wasn’t satisfying enough already.

“You’re under my control, that makes you my slave,” Renner’s smile faded as he reached out and tapped Stiles on the cheek, “Now do as I said, present yourself for me.” He watched the younger man warily and stepped out of his jeans, looking at the desk pointedly.

Stiles felt the tears burn in his eyes as he did so, as unwillingly as he was, he had a seriously hard time disobeying direct commands. He felt sick just from doing it, like his mouth was watering, seriously close to losing anything he had in his stomach.

“God, look at you,” Renner chuckled and stepped out of his boxers, moving up behind Stiles and staring observantly at the mage’s puckered entrance, “I bet you’re a virgin, aren’t you?” He smoothed his calloused palms over the soft swell of the smaller man’s ass cheeks, grinning to himself as he rubbed his thumb over the rim harshly.

Stiles closed his eyes as his body shook. Renner didn’t know how true that was. Stiles wasn’t **just** a virgin, he’d never even really kissed anyone, if you didn’t consider the occasions Derek’s tongue reached his mouth. Other than that, and what he and the alpha had done together, he was a plump, ripe tomato, unscathed. He’d wanted to give that to Derek, give the man something no one else would ever have - but now it was at the mercy of this fucking creep.

Renner spit on the tight, pink rim and wiped the saliva off his chin with the back of his hand. He didn’t bother prepping the mage, he liked it better when it hurt them anyways. The older man pressed the tip of his cock against the hole, smirking as he watched it sink into Stiles’ body, “ **Fuck** , you are. Didn’t even give it up to your alpha friend, now **that** surprises me.”

Stiles gasped in shock, turning to try and pull away, his leg slipping from the desk painfully and he caught himself against it with his hand, the stitches pulling as he put pressure on the wound. No, he hadn’t given it up to Derek, he wished he’d had, but he’d wanted to wait, wanted it to be right.

The older man slid in completely without remorse, shoving Stiles back up against the desk roughly, hand moving up to wrap around the front of the mage’s neck, “He won’t want you when I’m done with you.”

Renner tightened his grip on the younger man’s neck, enough to restrict the airflow and leave bruises, “He won’t even wanna look at you.”

 _No, he won’t_ , Stiles choked, reaching up to dig his nails into the larger man’s hand, turning and slamming his elbow back into Renner’s face. He’d likely regret it, but he wasn’t going to just sit there and take it [like a good little boy](http://archiveofourown.org/works/873814). He’d at least be able to say he made an effort.

Renner shouted and stumbled back, bringing his hands to his face to feel the blood pouring out of his nose, eyes narrowing at Stiles before he moved back in. He spat in the mage’s face, spraying his blood all over him before backhanding him onto the floor with a satisfied smirk.

The older man moved and knelt before Stiles, hand fisting in the mage’s hair before jerking his head back, making him keep eye contact, “Stop fighting me and I won’t hit you again.”

Stiles’s vision blurred with tears and he spit his own blood back in response, leg flying up and nailing the werewolf right where it hurt. He stood carefully, dizziness causing him to lose his footing as he fought against the other man, “He may not want to look at me,” Stiles breathed as he stared at the werewolf, “But I’m not going to shame myself by giving in to you, I have more self respect than that.”

The older man’s face reddened and he dropped the rest of the way to his knees, holding his breath and groaning painfully as his claws came out. He looked up at Stiles angrily and grabbed him by the knee, pulling him closer as his other hand lashed out, smacking Stiles across the face hard, leaving three deep gashes in his wake.

Renner flipped Stiles forcefully and shoved back in as he pinned the smaller man to the floor, bending his arms up behind his back as he growled in the mage’s ear, “Been waiting to see that fight in you, knew it was in there somewhere.”

Stiles shouted in pain as he felt the searing burn through his jaw and cheek, he had a moment to himself to think ‘that’s gonna scar’ before he was flipped over and his chin hit the floor, effectively biting his tongue and snapping his teeth together. All he tasted was blood as the werewolf climbed over him.

He winced at the smell of Renner’s breath and glared back, “Bite me, bitch,” He breathed against the stone flooring, squeezing his eyes shut at the burn and sting of the larger man inside of him.

* * *

Thinking that Stiles was dead was painful for Derek, being in that frame of mind for over two weeks was emotionally and physically crippling - feeling that kind of loss was likely to kill him before the torture had. But **watching** Stiles leave - albeit against his will - with Renner, was a different kind of hurt all together.

As much as he wanted to stay in the same spot, curled up on the ground, feeling the throngs of loss attach themselves into his skin again, it was different this time. Stiles was alive, and that alone had lit a fire under Derek’s ass to get things done, to try and find the younger man, to search for a way to get him out of the deal with Renner.

Which led him to where he was at now - Salem, of all places, and it was bittersweet, because Stiles wasn’t there to see it with him.

He’d been sitting on a bench, thinking about his game plan, when a decent looking older man sat down beside him, looking at him with wise, knowing eyes.

The alpha raised a brow at the man, as if to say ‘ _Can I help you?_ ’.

The man smiled warmly and shrugged, “I think the question you should be asking, Derek Hale, is ‘ _can **I** help you?'_.”

He’d heard through the grapevines that the young alpha was present in Salem, had made it a point to seek out the werewolf, which wasn’t that difficult once he was within the city limits, “Sitting out here isn’t wise for a young man like yourself, even in Salem, there are always crooks and disturbances.”

Derek turned a little more and squinted at the man, brows furrowed in confusion. _How do you know my name?_

It shouldn’t have surprised him, someone was bound to notice who he was sooner or later, but it was still a little difficult for him to wrap his head around the fact that he was a wanted ‘criminal’, even though all he’d done was protect himself.

“Derek Hale, terrorist, werewolf, alpha, black fur coat,” The man listed as he looked at Derek’s weary body, “Even if I didn’t know you, I’d know you. I’m a mage, and I’m psychic, and I’m a dear friend of both Chris Argent and Scott McCall. You do still have friends, Derek, even if you’ve removed yourself from them. And my, you could use a pick-me-up, you look even older than **I** am.”

_I just had my ma- **friend** taken from me, I've been through hell and back trying to figure out how to save him, you'd look like hell too._

The alpha stared at the mage and considered his words, listening intently to his heart rate for any signs of a blip or stutter. He relaxed a little when he realized the guy was telling the truth - but he'd never met the man before, so he was still a little wary in general. _**Can** you help me?_

The mage listened and smiled at Derek Hale’s Freudian slip, but nodded nonetheless, standing stiffly as his bones creaked and he motioned for Derek to follow him, “Come, first, it’s not safe out here.”

The poor werewolf had seen enough horrible things in his life, he was going to make sure that they avoided another possible one, “The name’s Tearlach, by the way.”

Derek stood to follow the mage, snorting under his breath. _And your parents actually named you that? Sorry, that was rude._ He was instilling trust in this man, _Tearlach_ \- he was just hoping the guy wouldn’t steer him in the wrong direction.

“I happen to like my name,” The wizen man said, looking back and smiling at the alpha, “And what kind of name is ‘ **Derek** ’, for an alpha werewolf?” He moved slow, and his steps were more limps than anything else, but he walked with an unusual grace.

 _It’s pretty fitting for an alpha if you ask me, it means ‘power of the tribe, ruler of the people’. Or my personal favorite, ‘peaceful ruler’._ The werewolf continued to follow, watching their surroundings hesitantly. _Where are we going, anyways?_

“The Salem Inn,” Tearlach said smiling at the werewolf’s pride in his name - one should always know themselves so well, “It’s a short walk from here, and it’ll offer us... **Some** safety.”

He looked back at Derek and grinned, “Your mate - _Stiles_ \- right? You want to save him. That’s why you’ve come, looking for a mage?”

Derek ducked his head a little and increased his pace, walking next to the mage. _He’s not my-he’s not..._ The alpha let out a heavy sigh and looked back at the older man, nodding tentatively. _Yeah, it’s why I’m here, I’ve gotta get him back._ There wasn’t any point in lying to the guy, he seemed to already know the truth anyways.

Tearlach laughed and nodded slowly as he walked them across the road, “He’s a lucky young man, to have one still so committed to him. I can’t imagine you’re oblivious to what he’s been doing to your kind. Even the squirrels in the trees know by now.”

Derek felt more than heard a protective growl resonating within his chest as he tried defending Stiles. _He’s not doing it because he wants to, it’s against his will - he can’t help it._

It should have bothered him more than it did, though - but he’d found himself so distanced from other werewolves that it didn’t matter. The only thing that concerned him, was knowing that Stiles had to have been exhausting himself - and if Renner pushed too hard, it could kill the younger man.

Tearlach stopped suddenly and looked at Derek with widening eyes, “Against his will?” He asked, feeling a sudden, deep cold take him over. He stared into the alpha’s eyes, listening to everything and he became very worried, turning to walk once more, “What was the last you’d heard, of young mister Stilinski?”

Derek paused and tried analyzing the mage’s reaction before answering, wondering if that was concern he’d seen in Tearlach’s eyes.

_He made a deal with some guy, a werewolf, goes by the name of Renner, in order to save me. This guy has some sort of hold over Stiles, like he’s controlling him. I’ve heard people talking about what he’s done, but other than that, I haven’t been able to find him. It’s been almost six months, seems like no one has ever heard of this Renner guy._

“The promise he made, to save your life,” Tearlach mused aloud, looking at Derek knowingly, “He’d already told you, probably, that magic is binding. You can’t break a spell like that. You can either wait until this ‘Renner’ gives Stiles back, offers him to someone else, or if he’s killed. As it is, though, your news is a bit... Old. Stiles was turned in, a week ago, his bounty is up, and Allison Argent has him now.”

_Allison has him? But why? Renner made it pretty convincing that he wanted Stiles for himself, I don’t understand._

If anything, Derek was more worried now, because Allison had turned into something evil over the years, heart full of nothing but malice and the need for revenge.

The alpha’s eyes widened and he looked at the mage as if it started to make sense, _She’s trying to draw me out, isn’t she?_

* * *

Stiles spat the slop of blood from his lips and watched as it slung down on the carpeted floor. He glared at the larger man and straightened up, checked his jaw and nodded to himself, good enough, “I always thought you were the dirty deeds, clean hands kinda person,” He said, glaring at Allison.

“Why don’t you just put a bullet in my skull and save us both some time?”

“I can’t do that, Stiles,” Allison murmured from where she stood in the corner, playing idly with an arrow as she moved over next to Stiles, circling him like prey, “I need you, you’re an essential part of my master plan. If I eliminate you, I’ll never get what I really want - and I can’t have that, I’ve waited too long for this.”

“I’m out of juice, didn’t you hear? Dried up, no go-y. There’s literally nothing else I’m useful for,” Stiles tried feebly. He’d be able to use magic again, sure, in a few fucking months, but not any time soon - he was spent; he’d blown his load, “Unless you need a lot of food eaten in a Saiyan appetite amount of time, you really should just go harass someone else.”

Allison crouched in front of Stiles and stared at him, waiting for the pieces to fit together, waiting for that flicker of recognition in his eyes, “Come on, I know you’re not that naive. I don’t want your magic, Stiles.”

She smiled a little and squinted at her ex’s old best friend, “I’m just using you to get what I’ve been after for years now.”

“You use to be such a nice little girl, what happened to her?” Stiles sassed back, ignoring the fear rising inside of him. Oh, he knew what she had planned, and he didn’t like it at all. If Derek was still out there, hopefully, he would realize that Stiles was far too gone to sacrifice himself for.

“That part of me died when my mother did, you should know that,” Allison stood back up and continued to walk around the room aimlessly, “I’m gonna take Derek out, give him what he deserves for what he did to me - and then, maybe you’ll know how I feel.”

“I’ll know how you feel? Have you forgotten what happened to **my** mom? Oh and, how about my dad, for that matter? I know exactly how you feel, but your mom was a bitch,” Stiles said, watching her and shaking his head, “She tried to kill Scott, remember that guy, your old boyfriend? Yeah, him, she tried to kill him, and Derek fought her off to save Scott. You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

Allison’s nostrils flared with anger as she strode towards Stiles, drawing her arm back before slapping him, “She made a lot of mistakes in her life, but she did not deserve the fate Derek handed to her.”

She looked at the guard and gestured back to the cell, “Go ahead and put him back in, I have a feeling his knight in shining armor will be here soon.”

Stiles glared at Allison, “You know, I never really did like you, even when you were dating Scott, you were this weak, deluded coward - and you still are.” It was a cheap thing to say, but she had to understand how fucking seething he was, even if she had the upper hand.

Allison let the snide comment roll off of her shoulders as she watched the guard man-handle Stiles back into the holding cell. She moved to the door and stopped before turning to look at Stiles again, “Anything you’d like Derek to know before I kill him?”

“Just that you’ll probably taste better with seasonings,” Stiles responded at once, “Because when he shows up, he’s going to rip your head off.” It was ballsy, but he didn’t want her to have the last laugh, and he had to make himself sound confident that Derek **would** show, hopefully it’d make her realize that it was pointless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to warn everyone, as an aside, that it's possible fer this rp/fic to go on hiatus or end randomly at some point. Most of ours seem to go that way. But I'm putting up all we have fer now, so that readers can enjoy it. PLEASE, don't go on reading thinking that it'll be completely concluded, the same goes fer the rest of our werks.
> 
> -WincestSounds


	7. Chapter 7

Being so sassy to Allison probably wasn’t the best idea in the world. He knew he was ‘bait’, but he’d been curious as to how she’d do it. And now, here he was, bleeding out, arrow in his left leg, stumbling through a forest - likely full of predators - and he knew she and her hunters were just behind, a safe distance away, bows and guns at the ready.

He’d stopped a couple times, which normally earned another arrow as warning, whizzing right by his ear, or nicking his arm. But, at this rate, he wasn’t going to last very long.

Stiles pulled his plaid overshirt off at one point, tightening it over the top of his leg before finally ripping the damn arrow out. He clutched it in his hand, just in case something that **wasn’t** Derek came out of the darkness to try and get him.

* * *

Walking into a trap was a horrible idea and Derek knew it, thankfully Tearlach had willingly offered his help and came along, cloaking himself and shielding the alpha as they walked through the woods towards where Allison’s camp was located. He picked up Stiles’s scent almost immediately and the heady odor of the younger man’s blood, but instead of taking off to save the mage, he remained calm and stalked through the woods carefully - they were baiting him, so they were expecting him to come running.

* * *

Stiles tried to keep calm the moment he felt Derek’s aura, the presence of the alpha was fucking palpable; he was pissed, furious, and obviously worried. Though Stiles hadn’t wanted him to show up, he was somewhat comforted, knowing that Derek came for him, knowing that the alpha would willingly risk it all, just to save him. He winced and kept walking, trying not to give anything away as he looked down at the pool of blood forming under his soaked boot, and he could feel the squish of his sock inside, drowned in the stuff.

“Stupid sourwolf,” He panted under his breath, “There’s like fifty of them, and one of you, what’re you doing?”

* * *

The alpha’s ears perked up the moment he heard Stiles, and he wanted to sigh in relief, but the slightest movement could’ve exposed his position.

_Don’t worry about me, I brought someone along. I promised you that I’d come for you, this is me keeping that promise. I’m sorry I took so long, you weren’t easy to find._

Derek had never been more thankful for his alpha form, the dark black fur helped him blend in with the darkness a little more, camouflaging him. He continued to follow Stiles’s scent, moving from tree to tree as inconspicuously as possible with Tearlach about ten feet away, keeping the shield in place.

* * *

Stiles felt the tears welling just from hearing the alpha’s thoughts, but he kept moving, albeit slowly, “Yeah no, it’s cool, big guy,” He breathed, voice shaking as he winced, “I understand, I didn’t make it any better, but it’s not really easy to carry a cellphone when you’re trying to commit genocide.”

He hissed in pain as he slipped, no mud, no other catalyst for it other than the state of his shoes.

The warning arrow passed his head and he glared back behind him, slowly standing back up and tightening his overshirt even more as he started walking again.

* * *

_It’ll be okay, everything will be fine. Those things you did, I don’t blame you for them, okay? It was out of your control._

Derek stilled behind a fat oak tree when he spotted Stiles’s silhouette in the darkness, noting all of the hunters following him, trying to hide behind trees as well - the only problem was, he couldn’t spot Allison.

_I can see you, sort of._

He furrowed his brows in concern when he noticed the younger man was limping, and terribly so.

_I can’t see Allison, though. Do you know where she’s at, Stiles?_

* * *

“Off to the left, I’m pretty sure, she’s been moving on her own,” Stiles whispered, his heart picking up in beats as he felt the alpha’s gaze on him, “Rip that bitch’s head off, will you? I made a promise to a girl.”

He smiled weakly, trying to ignore the constant pull of the wound with each step, pumping streams of blood from his body.

* * *

_No problem, just do me a favor, will you? Try not to pass out until I can get to you, you’re gonna be okay._

Derek looked off to the left a little, eyes focusing in on the faintest of movements along the tree line. Allison had always been swift, it was the only factor that even threatened Derek in the slightest - not to mention how light on her feet she was.

The alpha moved to a tree that was directly in their path and climbed it, far up enough where the other hunters or Allison wouldn’t be able to spot him, Tearlach standing near the base of the tree still working his magic.

_In the off chance that this doesn’t go the way we want it to - and it’s not likely, because I have a pretty powerful mage with me - I just, I want you to know that I meant what I said last time we saw each other... I love you, Stiles. Now, I want you to count down from twenty, nice and slow, and when you hit zero, get down on the ground so you’re not in the line of fire, okay?_

* * *

Stiles nodded nervously, “I... I love you too, but I think that goes without question,” He said softly, looking down at the wound, “Twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven,” He panted slowly, counting each time he took a step, closing his eyes and wincing with the numbers, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,” He licked his lips, “Five, four, three, two, one.”

* * *

Derek closed his eyes and clung tight to the younger man’s reciprocated words, steadying his breathing as he waited for Allison to walk beneath the tree.

Just after Stiles reached one, his eyes flashed red and he dropped from the oak, landing just behind Allison.

The sound of twigs snapping under his feet startled her and she swung around on him, crossbow drawn before shooting, arrow bouncing off the invisible shield around him.

The alpha growled and leaped forward, knocking her smaller frame to the ground, avoiding her hits the best he could before lunging at her throat and ripping her jugular out with his teeth.

Finding some weird sense of relief, enjoyment even, as he watched the life fade from her eyes startled him - because he wasn’t an evil person, but the lifeless body beneath him was the sole reason he’d been running for six years. So naturally, he felt a little entitled to feel the way he did.

Derek didn’t want to, but he shifted then, because he felt that maybe the other hunters were more likely to listen if he wasn’t a huge, hulking mass of alpha with blood dripping from his mouth.

Instead, he’d be a deranged looking naked guy... with blood dripping from his mouth.

He moved quickly - as nude as the day he was born - and ran to Stiles, kneeling down next to him before the hunters rushed them. The alpha stared down at the smaller man lovingly, brows taut as he took in the new scars and bruises, nose stinging from all the blood.

Stiles looked up at Derek, cheeks flushed as he glanced around curiously, wincing when he heard the cocking of a gun, “Really? Seriously?”

“Don’t any body move,” The hunter walking to the front of the crowd said, walking passed Derek and finding Allison’s body, checking it and nodding to himself, “She’s dead.”

He stood upright, walking back to Derek and looking at the alpha in confusion, “While the details are still fuzzy, would you mind clarifying a few things? Why the Hell did you even come here in the first place, and risk your life for a human? A... Beat up, wounded, dying, magic-less human, no doubt.”

The alpha stood up, completely unashamed and stared the hunter in the eyes, “Because I love him... and he’s my mate. Wouldn’t you do the same for someone you love?”

Derek scoffed before shaking his head, glancing at the gun, “I find it pretty amusing that you can’t understand the concept of loving someone unconditionally, but you blindly followed Allison when she was the one in the wrong.”

The hunters all glanced nervously amongst themselves, confused and a bit taken aback, not only by the alpha’s words, but by the accusations aimed at themselves.

The guy that had asked the first, initial question, tilted his head curiously, “But he’s a human. He’s not even bitten - he’s weak. You’d risk your life to save him?”

Stiles turned over, wincing in pain, and laid back on his elbows as he stared at the guy, “Are you an idiot?”

The man looked offended, but lowered his gun, “Drop your weapons,” He ordered the rest of the hunters, glancing back and watching as they all didn’t even question it.

The moment they were down, Tearlach came out of hiding and moved swiftly, kneeling beside Stiles to tend to his leg.

“Derek Hale,” The hunter started, still not quite done yet, watching the wizened mage before looking at the alpha, “You said... Allison Argent was in the wrong. I’ve heard this boy say something similar before, would you mind clarifying?”

Derek fought the urge to roll his eyes at the hunter’s first question, because the guy made it sound like it just wasn’t possible for a werewolf to be in love with a weak, fragile human.

He cleared his throat and nodded, voice still a little hoarse, “About six years ago, Allison’s mother was torturing a friend of ours - a fellow werewolf - with wolfsbane. I tried saving him and she got in the way... I bit her in order to get Scott out. Instead of turning, she killed herself, and then the Argent family framed me for her death. I've been on the run because of it ever since."

The hunter’s eyes widened and he nodded, “Scott McCall was the other werewolf, correct?” He frowned when Derek confirmed it and turned back to his team, most of them with grave expressions, “Very well... Get them back to camp, and see that they have everything they need.”

He turned to Derek and Stiles once more before ducking his head, “I’m sorry, for everything the two of you have been forced to go through. I hope that by extending my condolences, helping you be on your way, and seeing to it that this knowledge is learned, that you will forgive us for any suffering you’ve endured - it was not our intentions; we did not know better.”

“Thank you,” Derek’s brows furrowed as he listened to the hunter’s heart, confused when he found nothing but sincerity there - maybe there was still some sort of hope for humanity left after all.

He was curious as to why the guy was so understanding, but he didn’t want to question it - he wanted to tend to Stiles, make sure he was okay.

The alpha nodded his appreciation to the hunter before turning back to the younger man, kneeling and touching his face, thumb caressing the scar on his cheek, “How’re you holding up?” He didn’t wait for Stiles to answer before looking up at Tearlach, concern worrying his features, “He’ll be okay, right? You can heal him?”

Tearlach nodded and smiled wide, “He’ll be fine,” The older man reassured them both.

Stiles grinned numbly and touched Derek’s hand, “I can’t believe you’re in your human form... Thought I’d never see this thing again.” He stared up at the alpha, “You’re such a fucking idiot for coming to get me, I’m holding this against you.”

Derek rolled his eyes but grinned at Stiles fondly before picking his fragile frame up off of the ground, moving as gently as he could so that he didn’t jar the younger man’s body any more than necessary, “I missed you too.”

He followed the other hunters and gestured for Tearlach to come as well, hardly tearing his eyes away from his mate as he carried him back to the camp.

* * *

Stiles gritted his teeth as the woman wrapped his leg in gauze, the bowl of more blood than water by her side and he wanted to punch her in the fucking face because people seriously needed to understand what being ‘gentle’ was.

He shifted back on the pillows for comfort as she smiled and began cleaning up her things to give him some peace. He glanced at the arrow he’d pulled from his leg, lifting it gingerly and glaring at its point. It's a pretty simple weapon when you get down to the basics, and yet it was able to cause so much damage.

Derek moved from his seat on the other side of the room and sauntered over to Stiles, finally dressed. It shouldn’t have been as nerve wracking as it was to perch himself next to his mate, but he’d spent the better part of six years in his alpha form, and now, he felt naked, laid bare in front of the younger man, “Hey.”

He plucked the arrow from Stiles’s hand and laid it down before looking back at him, “Have they given you any pain meds yet?”

“No, and I don’t want any,” Stiles argued, “After everything in the past... Six months...” He felt his body shake just thinking about it, “It’s kinda nice to feel pain I can actually see, honestly.”

He looked Derek over, the emotions practically bleeding off of the man, all but reeking of his feelings, “You feel naked... You have no **clue** what I’m seeing.”

The alpha nibbled on his bottom lip nervously, hand lifting tentatively to brush Stiles’s chin with the back of his knuckles, voice soft as he prompted the younger man, “Tell me what you see?”

“I see how nervous you are, being in this form, and feeling vulnerable,” Stiles started softly, turning into the touch, “You don’t need to be. I can also see the worry, how much you’ve missed me,” He smiled weakly, “Lots of things you... Probably don’t want me seeing.”

Derek let out a heavy breath and smiled faintly, hanging his head a little bit before meeting Stiles’s gaze, “Pretty spot on.”

He squinted and ran the pads of his middle and forefinger along the three claw shaped scars on his mate’s cheek bone, rage towards Renner renewing all over again, “What else?”

Stiles blinked in surprise, eyes filling with tears, “H-how did you know Renner did that? I mean... Is it just obvious?” He was kind of overwhelmed by the anger, and by the realization that the scars were, indeed, there. Sometimes he forgot they even existed but, then again, he had plenty more to worry about.

“You were under his control and he’s a werewolf, I knew he was sketchy when I first laid my eyes on him,” The alpha let out a shaky breath, “I’m just putting two and two together.”

He brushed the scars again, “You’re still beautiful.”

“I should’ve known better,” Stiles murmured, pressing his lips together, “The least I could’ve done was tried another way before agreeing to his deal. I knew he was someone I’d regret making _any_ deal with. I was... Stupid. I mean, mega ultra stupid, like Leroy Jenkins stupid. I thought I grew out of that phase a few years ago. Apparently not.”

“You’re not stupid,” Derek argued softly, shaking his head as he looked at Stiles, “You did what you thought was right. He’ll get what’s coming to him, don’t worry about it.” He’d find Renner and make him sorry he ever hurt Stiles, have him begging for death by the time he got done with him.

Stiles traced the horrid scar on his left forearm, the one he got from trying to save his dad, “Make sure you shove his fucking balls down his throat once you’ve ripped them off.”

He wasn’t even going to try and argue with Derek not to go after Renner. The guy didn’t have Stiles to protect him any more. He leaned into the alpha, reaching up to touch his beard, “How’s it feel, being human again?”

“Weird,” Derek grinned faintly and leaned into Stiles’s touch, brows knitting together.

_Self-conscious, actually. I feel naked._

They’d never really been close - or friends for that matter - when he was in his human form, so naturally he felt awkward about it.

“Your thoughts are so easy to read like this, it’s almost stupid,” Stiles chuckled, eyes moving around as he searched Derek’s aura with raised brows, “After the alpha form, I... I might as well be psychic. And I don’t think I’ve seen your beard this outrageous before, are you gonna shave?”

“Considering you think it’s 'outrageous', probably, soon as I can find a razor... or clippers, whatever,” Derek shrugged and scratched the thickness of the beard, grinning at the younger man sheepishly, “It’s probably a moot point, but I suppose maybe you’d be more inclined to kiss me if I didn’t look like a caveman.”

“Doesn’t make a difference to me, you’re still Derek. I mean, maybe if you looked like Sméagol or something, I **might** mind,” Stiles glanced down at the wound on his leg, mindlessly touching the bandaging on it, “I’m so glad you ripped her neck open. It’s almost hard to believe that stupid bitch is actually dead.”

“I wouldn’t really say I’m glad,” The werewolf shrugged minutely, “More than anything I’m just relieved.” _Relieved that it’s over and that we can live semi-normal lives again, no more running. We can finally just live in peace for once. It’s gonna be different._

Stiles shrugged as well, “That’s cool too, but I am. You didn’t have to deal with her crazy like I did, or listen to all the stupid shit she was saying about the person you love.”

He kept his eyes concentrated on his legs, pulling them up closer to his chest, “And it’s out now, people know about the blind vengeance streak they’ve been on. Sure, they’ll change sides, they’ll apologize for being wrong if they have the spine to do it.”

He laid his temple against his knee and looked at Derek, “It doesn’t matter what they say, the things they’ve done to you...” He swallowed sickly, “I’m never getting over that.”

He blinked as the tears started welling, closing his eyes as he blew out the small lamp in the corner of the room. He wiped the blood from under his nose and shook his head as he tried to calm himself down before he destroyed everything electronic anywhere nearby.

Derek felt the protectiveness curl throughout him as he watched Stiles’s eyes water and he moved forward, fingertips tilting his mate’s chin up as he leaned down to kiss him tentatively, “I’m not saying we have to get over it, or even forgive them for that matter - but if we’re gonna have any chance at being happy, we’ll need to at least try and move on from it.”

Stiles kissed back, reaching out to run his hands through the alpha’s hair, “You’re too far away,” He murmured, feeling the brush of Derek’s beard against his own chin and it made him smile weakly.

He didn’t want the alpha to be tentative, he wanted his best friend in the world to fucking smother him, to wrap him up so tight in his arms, and lace their legs together, that he got confused about whose limbs were whose.

“I’m sorry,” The alpha notched his brows together guiltily, because it wasn’t like he wanted to be like this; guarded and self-conscious. It felt new all over again, especially considering he’d gotten use to seeing his fur in contrast to Stiles’s flesh - not his skin. Sure, it was liberating to be able to finally talk, but his alpha form provided some sense of security, confidence even.

He leaned in to kiss his mate a little slower, more sure and not so timid as he touched Stiles’s neck, “I love you.”

“I love you,” Stiles responded at once, “Now stop being a pussy wolf and come here, show your dominance, for fuck’s sake.”

He smirked, smoothing his hand down Derek’s chest as he laid down and scooted back a bit to give the alpha some space to do so as well, “I know you feel vulnerable, you should... You really kinda are, but that’s not a bad thing. Not with me.”

Derek laid down next to Stiles, body half on the younger man as he positioned his leg between his mate’s thighs, careful as to not hurt him any further. It would take a while for the fact that he didn’t have to depend on his alpha form so much anymore to sink in, with issues resolved he wouldn’t have to hide.

He leaned down and scented his mate’s neck, growling against the warmth of the skin before kissing it, smearing his mouth up to Stiles’s jaw and mouth, fingertips grazing the younger man’s hip bone as he raked the t-shirt up around his hand.

Stiles started to feel flashes of Renner coming back as Derek sniffed and growled, but when he looked at the alpha, he could see something different, something that coward didn’t have - it wasn’t **just** rights, the fact that Stiles would allow him to do anything, it was class. Derek, **being** an alpha, being _his_ alpha, set a whole new tone for what he was doing, and Stiles would’ve buckled if he’d been standing.

He forgot what this felt like - what it was like to be loved, “Big guy,” He breathed, dropping his head back in willing submission.

The alpha smirked and nuzzled his face against his mate’s Adam’s apple, mouthing the protruding bump gently before moving a little to the side, teeth grazing just beneath Stiles’s ear, “Mine.”

His hand smoothed up under the younger man’s shirt even further, the pads of his fingers circling Stiles’s left nipple before pinching it lightly, “I missed you.”

“Yours,” Stiles breathed out, feeling the tears slipping down his cheeks as his bottom lip trembled almost violently, “ **Yours** , only, ever,” He arched his body into Derek’s touch.

He didn’t have much of anything at all, definitely nothing worth giving to anyone else, but maybe his alpha would settle for what was left. Derek deserved better, but Stiles wasn’t going to argue it - he knew they were all that one another had left, both broken, both ruined, damaged far beyond repair, “I missed you so much.”

Derek stilled then, brows furrowed together as he pressed a small kiss to his mate’s chin before sitting back on his heels, one of Stiles’s legs between his thighs as his body twisted slightly and he reached back to the younger man’s injured leg.

Stiles had said he didn’t want any medication for the pain, so he couldn’t really get mad at the alpha for taking his pain away, right? After laying his palm on the injured leg, Derek focused on drawing it out, taking as much of his mate’s pain as he could.

Stiles gasped in relief and looked down, covering Derek’s hand with his, “Stubborn wolf,” He muttered, even though he was smiling weakly.

He should’ve known better, but he was also thankful for it. He’d wanted the pain, but if anyone had any right to relieve him, it was his alpha, that was pretty much how it’d always been between them - stealing each other’s hurts from one another, feeling guilty when they couldn’t.

He was pretty sure that Derek was as bad as he was about that, so he wouldn’t take this from his friend, he’d let the werewolf ease him, because it was probably what Derek wanted to do, more than anything.

“Like you have room to talk,” Derek snorted softly and glanced at his hand, watching the black-looking veins disappear before lowering himself back down to his previous position, “You’re just as stubborn.”

They were a little too alike in that regard, stubborn and bullheaded. It was a miracle in itself how it ended up bringing them closer together, opposed to pushing them apart. The alpha lifted his hand slowly, eyes searching his mate’s face as his fingertips traced the line of Stiles’s jaw, relishing in the fact that this was real, and the beautifully broken man before him was alive and breathing.

“It’s not a surprise at all,” Stiles said, swallowing as he stared back, “We both ‘stubbornly’ took care of one another, and stayed together. Because no one else would.”

After a while, it just became... More. It became comradery, familiarity, friendship, it became a relationship - love, devotion, obsession, need, want. Stiles would’ve never guessed it was possible to feel such a way for someone, not once had he ever questioned Derek’s loyalty to him, as bad as it got, he knew Derek was going to save him in **some** way.

The alpha nodded his agreement slowly, fingertips gliding down the smaller man’s neck until his palm was laying flat over Stiles’s heart, focusing on the steady, strong beat, “Where do we go from here?” He asked. After spending such a substantial part of his life running and fighting, he was sort of at a loss for what to do, not use to not having someone or something constantly on his tail.

“The worst is always far from over,” Stiles mused aloud, “I doubt we’ve seen the end of it, though I **really** don’t mind being proven wrong. I say we lay low for a while, stay in Salem, get our strength back. If, by then, the war is still happening, maybe I can get back into intelligence, lend myself that way, at a distance from the war. We both have seen **more** than enough bloodshed. After that... I don’t know.”

He ran his hand up Derek’s arm, staring into the older man’s eyes, “We’re young, paranoid, broke, but young - and we’ve got time. Maybe we could consider... Pups, or something.”

“ _Pups_...” Derek repeated incredulously, already feeling the longing, the want - even though he was still hurt from losing his old pack, “Or something.”

He kept his hand over Stiles’s heart and knit his brows together, staring at the younger man seriously as his eyes watered a little bit, “Is that something you’d want at some point?”

Stiles nodded slowly and kept his eyes on Derek’s, “Yes,” He admitted at once, “Pups, friends, babies, kids, a pack - a family - yeah, that’s what I want with you. That’s what I want **for** you, for us. We deserve it, don’t we? I don’t wanna be isolated. I mean, the two of us against the world is an adorable thought, romantic, but it’s not really _warm_ , is it?”

He covered Derek’s hand with his own, “I don’t want us to be alone for the rest of our lives, having each other is like fifty times better when paired with the pitter patter of little feet, and people awake before us, making breakfast and doing their own things, don’t you think?”

Derek nodded numbly and ducked down further to press his lips to Stiles’s, savoring the feel of the younger man’s lips against his own, thinking about how shitty their life was but feeling thankful for the one constant silver lining; _Stiles_. It was like the younger man knew exactly what he wanted - mainly because he likely **did** know - even if he wasn’t ready for it yet, the thought of having a new pack was something he yearned for.

Stiles kissed back, reaching up with both hands and holding the alpha’s face, keeping him close as he scratched his nails through Derek’s beard.

He pressed their foreheads together, smiling, “I **do** know what you want, but it’s what I want, too. I thought about it a lot, constantly. If I could be with you, if I could have you again, I wouldn’t spend my time huddled up in a corner, fucking our lives away - though that sounds nice. I just think it’d get slow after a couple centuries. I’d rather do something, have a family, a legacy, people that we can love, that we can keep. And you don’t have to do it alone, this time, we can do it together. I can help.”

“I want to,” The alpha admitted quietly and brushed their noses together, “I just need a little more time. I wanna wait and make sure that everything has blown over, because I can’t-I can’t risk putting more people in danger.”

He swallowed thickly and forced a little smile, “Maybe we could do the ‘huddled up in a corner fucking’ thing for a year or so, get it out of our systems. Then we’ll look into a pack of some sort, yeah?”

“Well, yeah, I know it’s gonna take time, we’ve got that,” Stiles said, nodding. He could practically _feel_ Derek’s fear of starting over, so he brushed his nose back against the alpha’s and ran his hands through the wild spikes of pitch black hair, “But I want it,” He assured, grinning wide as he kissed the older man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to go ahead and put this one on hiatus. Not much more of it has been written, only about 1.9k werds. But suffice it to say that nothing else srsly crazy is gonna happen. I have a few scenes we changed along the way and I might post one of those; that involves actual sex between the two (I'm pretty sure most of you were waiting fer that).
> 
> Not sure if this one will ever get finished, but I did warn everyone to keep that in mind. I'm rly sry guys, I love this fic and I'd love to continue it, but we have SO many more to get to (most that also aren't finished). I just try to get as much of the story out there so ppl can enjoy it. Maybe some day we'll return to this, but I doubt it.
> 
> Thank you all fer reading what we had tho, I'm sry to disappoint you guys. ><
> 
> ~WincestSounds


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